A new trailer has been released for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein adaptation, revealing plenty more about this highly anticipated Gothic horror story. Del Toro’s cinematic adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel has been in the works for a long time, and the new teaser showcases exactly why audiences should be excited about the project.

From the luscious visuals to the dense, atmospheric production design, the trailer really leans into the creative artistry of del Toro’s movie, keeping certain story beats quiet and relying on the aesthetics to do the talking. But unfortunately, the new Frankenstein trailer reveals something that should have been kept secret until release.

Frankenstein’s New Trailer Reveals Jacob Elordi’s Monster

Jacob Elordi plays Frankenstein’s monster in Netflix’s upcoming adaptation, and until this point, he’d been kept virtually absent from the marketing altogether. This had led audiences to speculate about what aesthetic changes del Toro could’ve made to his character, raising interesting questions about the role the creature could play in the story.

Unfortunately, Frankenstein has now softened much of that anticipation by revealing the character’s design over a month before the film is released on Netflix. The new trailer shows the creature hunting down his creator, before including a couple of close-up interactions with Mia Goth and David Bradley’s characters.

Many reviews of Frankenstein have justifiably named Elordi as the standout member of the cast, and much of this comes down to how emotional, human, and deeply empathetic his character is. He’s not the unfeeling monster that most Frankenstein adaptations portray him as, and it’s this subversion of the archetype that makes del Toro’s film so moving.

There are still some big surprises that Netflix hasn’t given away in the latest trailer, but it’s a huge shame that general audiences won’t have that great sense of surprise when they see Elordi’s vulnerable performance for the first time while watching the whole movie.

The film uses these misconceptions about the creature as part of the story, bringing the audience to question their own complicity in his mischaracterization as a “monster.” This could easily be lost on viewers who already know that del Toro is offering a more human, relatable version of the creature, as this trailer suggests.

The physical design of del Toro’s monster is also very different from other Frankenstein adaptations that preceded it. Instead of the large, monstrous, intimidating creatures played by Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, Elordi’s version is noticeably human. This is a powerful twist on the classic story, and it’s a shame that Netflix felt the need to reveal it too early.