Natalia Dyer and Elijah Wood Join '1408' Sequel with Cusack and Jackson

Natalia Dyer will star and Elijah Wood will play a supporting role in a sequel to the 2007 supernatural horror film "1408," with original leads Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack negotiating their return, Variety revealed exclusively. Mikael Håfström, who directed the first film, returns to helm the sequel and co-wrote the script with Mark Verheiden. Production is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2027.

The casting marks a generational handover. According to a source familiar with the project, Jackson and Cusack will reprise their original roles but appear as secondary characters, while Dyer takes the lead. Details about the new characters remain under wraps.

What made the original a hit?

The first "1408," based on Stephen King's 1999 short story of the same name, followed author Michael Enslin (Cusack), who investigates legends of mysterious and violent deaths behind door 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York City for a book on haunted hotels. Jackson co-starred as Gerald Olin, the hotel's manager.

Released by MGM, the film grossed $132 million worldwide against a budget of just $25 million — a cult hit by any measure. Plot details for the sequel have not been disclosed.

Cusack has said "1408" is the one film he'd ever consider revisiting. "I was lucky that I never had the desire, or no one asked me to do any sequels," he told People in 2025. "There's one that I think would be interesting to do, which would be '1408.' Just because … I think today, you know, most movies suck."

Who's financing and selling it?

The producing team spans several companies:

• Lorenzo di Bonaventura
• Richard Saperstein of Bluestone Entertainment
• Spyglass Media Group
• Frank Mayor

Bluestone Entertainment and FilmNation Entertainment are co-financing. FilmNation holds the international distribution rights and co-represents domestic rights with WME Independent. The project heads to buyers at AFM (the American Film Market, the annual film-rights trade event) next week. John Papsidera, whose credits include "The Odyssey," serves as casting director.

Who are the new leads?

Dyer rose to global recognition as Nancy Wheeler in Netflix's flagship series "Stranger Things." She's currently in production on HBO's true-crime limited series "The Trial of Louise Woodward" and has Oran Zegman's rom-com "Goodbye Girl," starring Kiernan Shipka and Cole Sprouse, on the horizon. Her earlier credits include Karen Maine's coming-of-age comedy "Yes, God, Yes."

Wood, the "Lord of the Rings" star, has become a horror regular, recently appearing in "Ready or Not 2: Here I Come," "The Toxic Avenger" and Osgood Perkins' "The Monkey." He'll return to Middle-earth as Frodo Baggins in Andy Serkis' "LOTR" sequel "The Hunt for Gollum," and he's joining the cast of Netflix's "The Gentlemen" for Season 3.

What about the returning pair?

Cusack, known for "Say Anything," "High Fidelity" and "Being John Malkovich," was a staple leading man of the '90s and early 2000s but has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since. His recent big-screen credits include the 2025 thriller "Fog of War" and two foreign films, "Detective Chinatown 1900" and "Decoded."

Jackson has stayed everywhere at once. The "Pulp Fiction," "Avengers" and "The Hateful Eight" star most recently appeared in "The Beast," which hit theaters Oct. 9, and "Just Play Dead." His upcoming slate includes J.J. Abrams' "The Great Beyond," "The Incredibles 3" and "Avengers: Secret Wars."

What does this change for the franchise?

It's a shift in strategy: hand the property to two younger genre-tested names while keeping the original stars in reduced roles as continuity anchors. Dyer brings a built-in streaming audience, Wood brings horror credibility, and the returning duo brings the memory of a film that turned a $25 million budget into $132 million.

The test comes at AFM next week, when buyers get their first look at a package that won't reach cameras until 2027. How the market prices a 20-year-later horror sequel will signal whether studio-adjacent nostalgia projects of this scale still command pre-sales muscle.

Dyer is represented by Circle Management + Production, CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Wood is represented by Linden Entertainment, Gersh and Meyer & Downs. Cusack is represented by Link Entertainment, Wolf Kasteler Public Relations and Ziffren Brittenham. Jackson is represented by Anonymous Content, CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein.