Willem Dafoe Will Play Ryuk In Forthcoming Death Note Adaptation

Willem Dafoe has been confirmed by Mashable to voice the fiendish Shinigami Ryuk in the forthcoming live-action adaptation of popular Japanese anime and manga series Death Note.

For those uninitiated to Death Note’s dark premise, Dafoe’s character drops “The Death Note,” into the world, a magical artifact capable of killing anyone whom the writer knows the name and face of. A boy named Light finds the book and goes on a righteous killing spree to rid the world of evil.

The film will be directed by Adam Wingard of You’re Next fame and currently features Natt Wolf (recently of Paper Towns and formerly the frontman of Nickelodeon’s Naked Brothers Band) as Light Taylor along with Margaret Qualley, Keith Stanfield, and Shea Wigham in other supporting roles.

Death Note is set to premiere next year on Netflix. Until then, get a sense of how perfect Dafoe’s casting is by watching this clip of Ryuk and Light meeting for the first time.