‘Possession’ returns in 2026: cast, story, and release date for the 1981 film’s remake
The Possession remake is coming, and the burning questions—who’s in it, what it’s about, and when you can watch it—finally have answers.
Filmmaker Parker Finn, coming off the breakout horror hit Smile, is writing and directing a contemporary reimagining of Possession for Paramount Pictures — and he’s taking it to theaters, not streaming. At the center of the new take are Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner as a married couple whose split curdles into something far more terrifying.
Who’s in it
Turner will play the husband opposite Qualley’s wife. The supporting cast stacks up with a mix of prestige and rising names:
- Paul Dano
- Madeline Brewer
- Nicholas Alexander Chavez
- Emory Cohen
- Diego Calva
- Swannmy Sampaio
It’s a darker lane for Turner after Masters of the Air and Fantastic Beasts, while Qualley continues her streak of daring choices following projects like Sanctuary and Poor Things.
What it’s about
Like Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 cult classic, the remake starts with a marriage in free fall: a wife asks for a divorce, and her increasingly erratic behavior pulls the husband into a spiral of paranoia, obsession and the uncanny. What begins as a domestic breakup swells into psychological horror with unmistakable supernatural overtones — the intimate and the inexplicable bleeding together until there’s no safe ground.
The original’s Cold War–era Berlin, extreme performances and grotesque imagery helped cement its legend. Finn’s version is billed as a modern reimagining that keeps the core nightmare while reframing it for today.
Paramount has set a wide theatrical release for June 11, 2027 .
Release plan
Paramount will open Possession nationwide on June 11, 2027. Finn is also producing, with producers including Jonathan Fass, Roy Lee and Andrew Childs. Earlier reports linked Robert Pattinson as a producer through his banner, though his current involvement hasn’t been confirmed.
The project was first announced in June 2024; this will be Finn’s next psychological horror outing as writer-director after Smile.