The long-developing Dead by Daylight movie just got a director. Blumhouse's Atomic Monster, run by James Wan, and game studio Behaviour Interactive have set Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson to helm the big-screen adaptation of the asymmetrical multiplayer horror smash.
The announcement dropped during Dead by Daylight's 10th-anniversary celebration in Montreal in mid-June. Palsson created Netflix's The Valhalla Murders and directed the feature The Damned — a track record steeped in cold, atmospheric dread that maps neatly onto the game's fog-choked terror.
Writing duties go to a pair of genre heavyweights: Alexandre Aja and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick are penning the screenplay. The project is in early pre-production, with production expected to begin in 2027.
Wan Backs the Pick
James Wan put his weight squarely behind the hire. "Thordur is the filmmaker we trust to carry Dead by Daylight from the screen you play on to the big screen you watch in theaters," Wan said.
It's a measured, deliberate handoff for a property that has spent years circling a film deal. Behaviour Interactive owns Dead by Daylight, the asymmetrical multiplayer title that pits a single killer against a team of survivors. With a director now locked, the adaptation moves from perpetual development chatter into something with a name attached and a calendar to hit.
A Game-to-Screen Bet
The move lands at a moment when video-game horror adaptations are running hot, with studios increasingly betting that interactive scares can translate into theatrical ones. Dead by Daylight arrives with a built-in fanbase a decade deep — and now, a creative team built to spook them.
No casting, plot specifics, or release window have been revealed. For now, the headline is the team: Palsson directing, Aja and Johnson-McGoldrick writing, Atomic Monster and Behaviour Interactive producing, and a 2027 production start on the board. HORROR BEAT will update as the project develops.
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