Movies Godzilla vs. Kong 2 to star Dan Stevens, will be directed by Adam Wingard Stevens and Wingard previously worked together on 2014's The Guest. By Clark Collis Clark Collis Senior Writer EW's editorial guidelines Published on May 12, 2022 10:02PM EDT Dan Stevens will star in the next MonsterVerse film from Legendary, EW has confirmed, a follow-up to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. The movie will be directed by Godzilla vs. Kong filmmaker Adam Wingard. The new MonsterVerse project will start production in Australia this summer. Stevens and Wingard previously worked together on the 2014 horror-thriller The Guest in which the actor played a mysterious veteran. While the movie was not a box office hit, The Guest has acquired a cult following in the years since its release. "I wanted somebody who embodied a calming [vibe] but was able to twist that to sort of a masculine thing," Wingard told EW about the casting of Stevens before the release of The Guest. "The character's very specific and there wasn't a lot of people that I would have even halfway considered. But he just happened to fit into that world. I met him and we just hit it off right away." Dan Stevens and Adam Wingard. Amy Sussman/Getty; Jim Spellman/WireImage Since achieving fame with Downton Abbey, Stevens has appeared in a varied array of projects including the films Beauty and the Beast, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and the TV show Legion. He can currently be seen playing former White House Counsel John Dean on the Starz series Gaslit. Wingard's other directing credits include 2010's A Horrible Way to Die, 2011's You're Next, 2016's Blair Witch, and 2017's Death Note. Godzilla vs. Kong was one of the first blockbusters released during the pandemic era, earning $468 million around the world after it came out in March 2021. "Creating the fights was absolutely the funnest thing that I've ever done in my entire career," Wingard said to EW about directing Godzilla vs. Kong ahead of the film's release. "You would think that that would be the most difficult part of the movie. But to me it was always the easiest because we always knew what the goal was, and it was just about making it as spectacular as possible. The trick is to treat a monster brawl the same way you would a normal action film. I don't like it whenever characters bang each other around and there's no evidence of the fight after the fact. I want to see people take damage." The news about the new MonsterVerse film was first reported by Deadline. Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Related content: Godzilla vs. Kong director treated his monsters like action film stars Godzilla vs. Kong is the loud, dumb monster mash you came for: Review