Benedict Wong & Franz Rogowski Join A24’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

A24’s The Masque of the Red Death just added more bodies to the ballroom.

Benedict Wong (Weapons) and Franz Rogowski (Passages) have joined the cast of the studio’s twisted reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 gothic nightmare, according to Deadline. They step into the plague-ridden world alongside previously announced stars Mikey Madison (Scream, 2022) and Léa Seydoux (No Time to Die).

Written and directed by Charlie Polinger (The Plague), the film is described as a “wildly revisionist and darkly comedic” take on Poe’s classic tale of privilege, pestilence, and inevitable doom.

Madison will reportedly pull double duty as twin sisters in a story that centers on a deranged prince who seals himself and the aristocracy inside his castle as a deadly plague ravages the lower classes outside its walls. But death doesn’t respect social status. A long-lost twin, raised among the peasantry, infiltrates the fortress — entering a feverish world of decadence, orgies, opium-fueled excess, political scheming, revenge… and decapitations.

Yes, decapitations.

“It’s definitely more in a dark comedy world,” Polinger previously told Bloody Disgusting. “It has a much more maximalist tone but explores some similar things on a very basic level, like group dynamics within a claustrophobic space.”

Expect powdered wigs soaked in blood.

Julia Hammer and Erik Feig are producing for Picturestart alongside James Presson and Lucy McKendrick, with Polinger also serving as executive producer.

Production kicks off this month in Hungary — where the plague party is just getting started.