Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is here and it has the internet thirsty. We are thirsty for more gothic horror content and del Toro goodness, yes, but there’s also a lot of thirst for the hunky monster played by Jacob Elordi. The actor was already known for sending folks on social media into a tizzy—for his brooding, complicated characters; for his sensitive eyes; for regularly toting a purse. But Frankenstein turned the dial way up, if Letterboxd reviews and TikTok famcams are any indication. We’re always in the market for a tall, hot heartthrob, so a tall, hot heartthrob playing one of literature’s most misunderstood characters is catnip for a certain type of monster lover.
But Eldori’s hulking presence is good for more than just standing around and being pretty. As we see in Frankenstein, he is capable of all of the physicality and facial elasticity required of character actors. Specifically, the actors associated with their own monstrous roles. Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff are all incredible performers who used the mold of movie monsters to carve out their legacies.
It’s a type of actor we don’t see as much anymore (Bill Skarsgård is the closest approximation I can think of) and for shame. It is such a rich way for an actor to explore all the depths of the human body and soul. Think of Lee in the Hammer horror films Horror of Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein—both movies where he plays the monster. There’s boldness and beauty to the way he moves and talks. They aren’t the type of roles that win Oscars, but they are the type that keep an actor immortal.
But who’s to say these don’t have to be Oscar-qualifying performances going forward? The Academy is warmer towards horror and sci-fi these days, and Elordi’s performance as the monster is already getting buzz. Maybe leaning into similar roles could bear more fruit. He’s already on the docket to play another classic gothic character, Heathcliff, when Emerald Fennel’s Wuthering Heights comes out next year. Here are some suggestions for five more classic roles (more horror-tinged than Wuthering Heights) whose shoes—or paws—he could fill.
Satan (Paradise Lost)
John Milton’s Satan is the original emo antihero. Beautiful, bored, possessed of the same “I could fix him but I shouldn’t” energy that Tumblrs and Twitter fan accounts are built upon. The connection here also isn’t totally random: Paradise Lost is a major reference point in Frankenstein, both the novel and del Toro’s film. Elordi already proved he can channel a creature shaped by Miltonic despair, so why not go straight to the source?
In Frankenstein, Elordi taps into something fallen and yearning, a creature that aches to be loved even as it lashes out. He feels like a celestial being experiencing a mortal nervous breakdown, which is sort of Satan’s whole deal in Paradise Lost. Imagine an 8-foot-tall Elordi (Satan is described as being as tall as a tower in the text) glowering across a cosmic battlefield, whispering, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n” with a single perfect tear. It might break the internet.
Erik/Phantom (The Phantom of the Opera)
Gaston Leroux’s Phantom needs two things: big presence and big pathos. Erik is a brilliant composer but also a murderer and romantic obsessive. Maybe the most dramatic man to ever wear a mask? Elordi could easily tap into the melodrama while grounding it in tragedy. And there’s an extra good reason he should don the cape: Guillermo del Toro has publicly said he wants to make his own Phantom of the Opera musical, which feels like a straight shot of destiny after Frankenstein.
Plus, Jacob can actually sing, as we learned in Priscilla. His vocal chops may not be Broadway-ready, but they also might be—who knows with this guy! He keeps revealing layers to his talent, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s got a beautiful, crystal clear voice capable of hitting the high notes in “Music of the Night”. His Phantom would feel young and volatile, a nice twist on tradition, and he could draw on the dangerous, possessive qualities of his Euphoria character Nate to hit the right level of scary sexy.
Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
If there’s one character who feels tailor-made for Elordi, it’s Dorian Gray. He’s the beautiful man whose face never ages but whose soul deteriorates like rotting fruit. Oscar Wilde’s Dorian is seductive, hollow, haunted, and always on the brink of an emotional spiral. But what makes him compelling isn’t just his ravishing beauty but the horror underneath the portrait: the terror of seeing your worst impulses reflected back at you.
Elordi can oscillate between icy detachment and emotional collapse, which is exactly what the role demands. To again reference Nate, no one is better at playing “gorgeous sociopath” than him. But he also brings an existential sadness to his performances that could elevate the character from just a decadent brat to a truly tragic figure.
Grendel (Beowulf)
Grendel is one of literature’s great misunderstood monsters. A creature exiled from humanity not because he’s evil, but because he just wasn’t invited to the party. He hears joy from afar, aches to be included, and lashes out because the world refuses to make space for him. Sound familiar?
While Grendel is often depicted as a hulking beast, modern adaptations lean into tragedy of the character. Elordi could bring that blend of strength and despair, playing him less as a mindless brute and more as a wounded outsider whose rage comes from rejection. Picture him covered in moss, dripping in swamp water, staring longingly at a mead hall he’ll never enter. Devastating. Hot.
Hyde (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Hyde is violent and impulsive, and Elordi has already shown he can toggle between charm and menace like it’s an Olympic sport. What makes Hyde fascinating is the duality. He is both the monster and the mirror, the part of Jekyll that society forces underground.
Elordi is great at playing men who, under all of the turmoil, are trying (though often failing) to keep the worst parts of themselves at bay. Give him the Victorian setting, the tragic repression, the moral unraveling, and he could turn Hyde into something more heartbreaking than we’ve seen in other adaptations. Plus, the contrast between a refined, buttoned-up Jekyll and a feral, unhinged Hyde would be so fun. He could weaponize that 6-foot-5 frame for Victorian mayhem.
The post 5 Classic Monsters Jacob Elordi Could Play After FRANKENSTEIN appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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