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After being optioned for an adaptation, things are moving quickly with Netflix’s adaptation of Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s Audible series The Boy in the Iron Box, which is scheduled to begin filming in October 2025. David Prior, who has worked with GDT before, will be writing and directing the project, it has now been revealed. Here’s what we know so far.
We reported in May 2025 that Netflix had optioned Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s six-part serialised horror novella, but it was unclear at the time whether this would lead to a series or a movie. According to one of the most recent updates, The Boy in the Iron Box will be adapted into a feature film. Guillermo del Toro already has an impressive track record with Netflix, thanks to projects such as his Academy Award-winning adaptation of Pinocchio, animated franchise Tales of Arcadia, the limited horror series Cabinet of Curiosities, and the upcoming feature film Frankenstein.
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan have collaborated on multiple projects in the past, which included The Hollow Ones and The Strain trilogy, the latter of which was adapted into a popular series on FX. The six short stories that make up Boy in the Iron Box are the collection of novels, Falling Down, The Pit and the Box, The Hunted, Risen, Siege, and Encounter.
It has been confirmed that Guillermo del Toro’s Necropia Entertainment will produce the project with GDT listed as a producer alongside J. Miles Dale.
David Prior is behind the adaptation’s script and will serve as director. The American filmmaker and screenwriter is best known as the director of The Empty Man (2020), released by 20th Century Fox. For Netflix, he worked as one of the directors on David Fincher’s experimental anthology series Voir (2021). Furthermore, he directed an episode (The Autopsy) of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, released in 2022.
Denise Chamian and Robin D. Cook serve as casting directors on the project.
What is the plot of Boy in the Iron Box?
The synopsis we have for the film is the following:
“Flying dark, a plane carrying a team of mercenaries crash-lands on a remote snowy summit. When they come across a maze-like stone fortress, it’s no refuge from the wolves and the freezing wind. It’s more like a trap. What they discover can stop the heart—or worse. As terror takes a new shape, the real battle for survival begins.”
What is the production status of Boy in the Iron Box?
Filming on the new project is scheduled to begin on October 20, 2025, and is expected to run until January 13, 2026. It’ll be filmed in full in Toronto, Ontario.
A public casting call for the role of The Boy was issued in late August and reads, “Character is male, 18 or older to play 13-14, no taller than 5′6′′. A gothic, ageless creature with a long, gaunt face. Though youthful in his desire to cause violent mischief and mayhem, his soul is ancient and ruthless, and his voice that of an older, authoritative man. The Boy is, metaphorically, a cobra singing a lullaby: quiet and terrifying. We will come to know him as the “Eater of Hearts”, equal parts horrifying and unsettling…ROLE WILL BE AIDED BY VFX AND PROSTHETICS, PLEASE SUBMIT ACTORS WHO ARE COMFORTABLE WITH PROSTHETICS. ROLE REQUIRES PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE, STUNTS / DANCE EXPERIENCE IS A PLUS. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES. LINES ARE TBD, MAY BE DUBBED / LOOPED.”
When will Boy in the Iron Box be released on Netflix?
With filming reportedly scheduled to take place between October 2025 and January 2026, the earliest we could possibly see The Boy in the Iron Box on Netflix is late 2026 (November-December 2026). However, a 2027 release is more realistic.
Are you looking forward to watching The Boy in the Iron Box on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below.
