Universal's new live-action Wolf Man puts Christopher Abbott into the titular monster role, and the Wolf Man's design is a reinvention for the classic character. The 2025 movie from Universal, Blumhouse, and director Leigh Whannell is an updated take on the classic Universal Monsters character known as Wolf Man. Previously played by Lon Chaney Jr. in the 1941 original and Benicio del Toro in 2010's The Wolfman, Christopher Abbott becomes the latest actor to play the werewolf. Wolf Man follows Abbott's character as he is transformed into the creature of the night.

The Wolf Man character has a standard design over the years thanks to his werewolf roots, but Christopher Abbott's Wolf Man character having a different design than previous movies. It's an entirely unique and divisive look for Wolf Man that has not been seen before across the decades of other appearances for the monster.

Wolf Man's New Design Explained

Wolf Man Looks Different

The Wolf Man trailer mostly hides Christopher Abbott's full Wolf Man design, but it does tease a few glimpses of the final look. One of the biggest takeaways is that he does not appear overly hairy. Regular human skin is visible in his silhouette and close-up shots of his hands and arms. This is a significant departure from the character's usual werewolf appearance. While it could be suggested that the more human-looking version of Wolf Man might be an earlier design and that a proper look comes later on, other details indicate this is the final Wolf Man design.

The brief teases of Wolf Man's design in the Wolf Man trailer line up with the character's debut at Halloween Horror Nights 2024. Universal's annual Halloween event includes movie-accurate costumes for a variety of other Universal horror movie characters, such as The Grabber from The Black Phone. As seen in the video below, a costumed Wolf Man was at Halloween Horror Nights in front of a Wolf Man promo banner. This is currently the best look at the Wolf Man design featured in the movie and is expected to be an accurate representation of the character's movie appearance.

The Wolf Man design matches up with what is visible in the trailer footage. The long, bony fingers are present, as is the balding head. This version of the character maintains the sharp teeth of a werewolf and has long white hair on the back of his head and as facial hair. While Wolf Man could use CGI or a more expensive physical suit to enhance the look of Christopher Abbott's Wolf Man design, this is the way he will look in the movie.

How Wolf Man's Design Compares To Past Movies

Wolf Man's version of the classic monster looks very different from his past movie appearances. When Lon Chaney Jr. played The Wolf Man in the original 1941 movie, the human and werewolf elements of the character design were blended together. This left Wolf Man with a more human-looking face, but his body was still very hairy to take the werewolf elements into . Christopher Abbott's version is more in line with Chaney's by enhancing the human aspects of the character, but it downplays the werewolf design too much.

This also makes the 2025 movie's design far from what Joe Johnston made Benicio del Toro look like in 2010's The Wolfman. He looked exactly like a werewolf, and the movie made him physically bigger and more imposing with the character design. It's difficult to tell how much Wolf Man attempts to utilize this design choice with Abbott's version, but he is shorter than del Toro in real life. Even though the physical attributes of a werewolf are toned down, it does appear that Abbott's character is attempting to have a scarier design than Universal initially did with Chaney.

Why Christopher Abbott's Wolf Man Looks So Different

The reveal of Christopher Abbott's Wolf Man design raises major questions regarding the creative reasons why he looks so different from the character's classic look. Without seeing the movie, confirming why the changes were made is impossible. However, it is not likely that Blumhouse and Leigh Whannell opted to dramatically change Wolf Man's design without having a good reason. There must be a story-related reason for Wolf Man making such noticeable alterations to a classic Universal Monster like this.

The best explanation that can be provided at this time is that the new Wolf Man design directly connects to the themes that Whannell's movie explores. Cost is unlikely to be a factor, considering the usual werewolf design elements could be done practically without significantly altering the movie's budget. Furthermore, audiences expect Wolf Man to look like a traditional werewolf. If Wolf Man decided to change the character's appearance to this degree, there must be a thematic and narrative reason behind the switch that will be clear once the movie hits theaters.