Sydney Sweeney’s Next Horror Movie Reimagines a 200-Year-Old Ghost Story From a Woman’s Point of View
Sydney Sweeney has built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most reliable horror draws, and her latest career pivot is proving that streak has no plans of slowing down. Between ‘Immaculate,’ ‘The Housemaid,’ and her farewell run on ‘Euphoria,’ the actress has spent the past year hopping between genre chillers and awards-adjacent dramas without missing a beat. Now she is circling back to the spooky season with a project that reworks one of American literature’s most enduring legends.
Filmmaker Lindsey Anderson Beer, who previously wrote and directed ‘Pet Sematary Bloodlines,’ is developing a feature titled ‘Hollow’ that reinterprets Washington Irving’s 1820 classic ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.’ Sony Pictures has now landed the project, with Sweeney attached to star and Beer set to write, direct, and produce.
According to Bloody Disgusting, Sweeney will play Katrina Van Tassel, the character long treated as a romantic prize caught between Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in prior adaptations. This version reimagines Van Tassel as the central figure in a dangerous mystery and seductive supernatural love triangle rather than a passive love interest. The film is also described as blending gothic atmosphere with psychological tension and erotic thriller elements for a more contemporary spin on the material.
The movie is based on Beer’s upcoming debut novel of the same name, which will not actually hit shelves until fall 2027. The book is being published by Putnam, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and reportedly sparked a heated bidding war among studios before it was even finished, with Sony ultimately winning the rights.
Sweeney and Beer are producing through their own respective banners, with Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment also attached. This will mark the first film for Sweeney’s newly formed Honey Trap company, which recently signed a first look deal with Sony, and Kaylee McGregor is serving as president of production and development for the label. Deadline was first to report the news, framing it as a hot studio package that sent executives scrambling.
It has been more than two decades since Tim Burton’s 1999 take on the tale starring Johnny Depp defined the story for a generation, and this new version sounds like it is aiming to feel nothing like that gothic swashbuckler. Fans reacting online have already latched onto the casting, with several pointing out that Sweeney seems tailor made for a role rooted in old fashioned Americana with a dark supernatural twist.
No release date, additional cast, or production start has been confirmed yet, but given Sweeney’s recent box office track record and Beer’s momentum after ‘Pet Sematary Bloodlines,’ expectations are already climbing. Does reworking the Sleepy Hollow legend around Katrina Van Tassel sound like the fresh, gothic reinvention this story has been missing, or should Sony have left Washington Irving’s original untouched?
