Wolf Man’s most important kill was almost far more brutal

The most pivotal kill in Wolf Man (2025) wasn’t actually set in stone until the day before it was filmed. Multiple versions were being considered until the last moment, and we learned all about them in an exclusive interview with Ben Prendergast.

While on the surface, you’d be forgiven for thinking Wolf Man is nothing more than a conventional monster flick, there’s so much more to it than meets its infected eye. The film has a heart and it’s Blake’s various relationships that tie every narrative beat together.

One such relationship is with his father, Grady. But the fate of this dynamic supposedly wasn’t locked in before production got underway. While the overall idea was there, the specifics of how to arrive at that conclusion weren’t exactly clear.

We sat down with Grady’s werewolf actor Ben Prendergast to discuss the various possibilities for his character as well as how the final act of the film shaped up. Obvious spoilers to follow.

A near-impossible one-shot sequence

In the lead-up to the New Zealand shoot, Prendergast indeed “had access to the full script and access to the director” in order to paint the picture of his character. However, as for where Grady “ended up, we were not sure of that until a day before we shot it.”

Given this character’s integral role to the entire plot, his death “had to be worthy, it had to be something that Blake and Charlotte’s character could earn.”

The idea of a fight sequence was clear from the very beginning, Prendergast told us, but “there was a lot about it that wasn’t set in stone.

“There was going to be a clash and it was going to end a certain way, but it was never certain specifically how. We had this fight scene, they’d be filming it, but even [Director Leigh Whannell] was scratching his chin like ‘I’ll come back to you and we’ll work it out.’”

One orignial plan was to record an epic fight sequence in one continuous shot. Think Children of Men or True Detective Season 1, but with a definitive death knell at the very end.

“We had choreographed that fight scene to five minutes and it was wild,” the actor said with a laugh. “We were exhausted rehearsing it.”

One key problem arose before this concept was ever committed to film, however. “In a death scene, how do you not move after you’ve just been so physical?”

After five straight minutes of intense action, it would’ve proven immensely difficult for Prendergast to suddenly stop gasping for air. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped.

Grady’s death could’ve been much more brutal

Once the scene pivoted away from the lengthy one-shot, it was then a matter of just how Grady should meet his end. Of course, the crew had many different ideas for how to dispatch of the film’s big bad wolf, of sorts.

“We did so many takes,” Prendergast said. In one instance, Blake “literally UFC choked him out, crushing his neck.” In another, Charlotte came to the rescue, stabbing a hot fire poker into Grady’s chest.

“We also had versions where Charlotte’s smashing a bottle over his head, there was a whole bunch of things we were trying to introduce in that fight scene, we just had limited ways to do it because they can only slash and bite.

“Blake doesn’t have as much of a use of his hands. Choking out didn’t work because it wasn’t quite violent enough, plus we had to take Grady down a peg or two during the fight.”

Unquestionably the most savage idea they discussed was a tag-team execution, as Prendergast revealed. “Another one was stabbing [the hot poker] through [Grady’s] neck. Blake then grabbed onto one side and Charlotte grabbed the other, then they ripped his head off.”

What we ultimately ended up with was certainly satisfying for not only the story but the brutality of the scene. We also spoke with Prendergast about Wolf Man’s ending and how the downfall of Grady setup the ultimate form of redemption.