The updates keep on rolling from Netflix's Geeked Week 2023. It's been a busy last few days but the streamer, perhaps, kept the first look at its buzziest project for near the end of the fan event.
In Damsel, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown portrays a young princess named Elodie, who's set to be married but the rival kingdom is planning on using her as a sacrifice to appease a rampaging dragon and satisfy an ancient debt.
However, in this high fantasy fairytale, there's no prince that's coming to the princess' rescue. Instead, she'll have to save herself from the dragon's lair. Rumors speculate that Brown's character actually manages to slay the dragon early on in the film and that it's the fallout from her survival where the film spends the most time.
Joining Brown in the film are Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Robin Wright (Wonder Woman, House of Cards), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse), Nick Robinson (Jurassic World), Ray Winstone (The Departed, Black Widow), Brooke Carter (The Peripheral), Mens-Sana Tamakloe (Inception) will play a Knight, Sonya Nisa (Red Rose) and Rui M Tomas (Lusitânia).
Bassett plays Lady Bayford, Princess Elodie's stepmother while Wright portrays Queen Isabelle, the mother of the prince Elodie is set to marry.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intruders) is directing from a script written by Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans, Fast X).
There is currently no exact release date for Damsel but Netflix tells fans to expect the film to be released at some point in 2024. The film was originally scheduled to be released on October 13, 2013, but was postponed due to the recently resolved, SAG-AFTRA actor's strike.
A novelization of the screenplay from Evelyn Skye was published on April 18, 2023.
The official synopsis for the film reads, "Damsel is a taut contained thriller about a Princess that thinks she is marrying a prince only to be thrown into a pit where she is being sacrificed to a dragon. Brown plays Elodie, who’s anxiously awaiting her wedding to Prince Henry and feeling pressure from her Father, who needs the money her marriage will bring, be a good, obedient wife.
After marrying Henry, Elodie realizes she’s been tricked into becoming a sacrificial offering for a cruel dragon who intends to eat her. Elodie must fight her way out of the dragon’s lair and eventually saves herself by slaying the Dragon.”