A candlelit alley, a bowed head, and a familiar silhouette: the first poster making the rounds for A Christmas Carol has triggered the kind of online whisper campaign studios dream about. Fans have been trading theories about the mood of the film—“gothic,” “haunted,” “not your cozy holiday rerun”—and, most of all, about the man at its center. Now the headline that turned curiosity into full-blown frenzy is here: Johnny Depp is set to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a new big-screen adaptation scheduled for November 13, 2026. 

Let’s clear one bit of confusion up front. Despite the viral poster being labeled “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” by some fan accounts, the current project attached to Depp is a Paramount Pictures film titled Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol. It is in pre-production and being shaped not as a traditional family retelling but as a darker, more atmospheric reimagining of Dickens’ classic. (IMDb) That distinction matters, because the creative team involved makes a strong statement about the tone audiences should expect.

Paramount has tapped Ti West to direct, a filmmaker best known for stylish modern horror (X, Pearl, MaXXXine). (People.com) West’s presence alone signals a pivot away from the glittering, sing-song sentimentality of many past versions. Instead, the new film is being framed as a ghost story in the old meaning of the term: unsettling, intimate, and psychological—less “holiday comfort food,” more “winter-night reckoning.” The script is credited to Nathaniel Halpern, with Dickens’ original story serving as the backbone. (People.com)

Depp’s Scrooge is described by early production notes as a man pulled through Victorian London by three spirits, forced to confront the wreckage of his past and the narrow corridor of time where redemption is still possible. (IMDb) If that sounds familiar, it should: it’s the spine of every Christmas Carol. The difference will be in the flesh around it—how the ghosts appear, how memory is staged, and whether the film leans into moral fable or nightmare parable. With West at the helm, many observers expect a version where the supernatural visits are not whimsical lessons but claustrophobic hauntings.

The cast deepens that expectation. Ian McKellen and Andrea Riseborough are attached alongside Depp, with Tramell Tillman also listed among the key players. (IMDb) That lineup suggests a serious, actor-driven approach rather than a cameo-heavy holiday spectacle. McKellen—long associated with gravitas—has played everything from Shakespearean kings to wizards; Riseborough has built a career on emotionally flinty roles. Put them in Dickens’ London under a horror-leaning director, and you get a feel for why the poster’s candle doesn’t read as cozy, but ominous.

For Depp, the project is being widely interpreted as a major studio return. He has largely worked outside Hollywood’s blockbuster pipeline since 2019, following the defamation trial and the public fallout surrounding his relationship with Amber Heard. (People.com) In the years since, he has appeared in international and indie projects such as Jeanne du Barry and is slated for the thriller Day Drinker. (People.com) But a lead role in a classic with global name recognition is a different kind of spotlight—one that could either reignite his standing with mainstream audiences or intensify the debate that follows him.

That debate is already visible online. Some fans see the casting as “perfectly eerie,” noting Depp’s gift for portraying men haunted by their own oddness. Others are wary, arguing that a story centered on moral transformation should not become a referendum on the actor’s personal controversies. Paramount has not positioned Depp’s Scrooge as a meta-comeback, but the public will likely read it that way anyway. As one recent profile noted, Depp himself resists the “return” label, insisting he never left. (Esquire) Still, Hollywood symbolism is hard to dodge when an actor known for scandal and exile plays literature’s most famous miser seeking redemption.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Depp’s film will not be the only high-profile Christmas Carol in development. Warner Bros. is reportedly backing another adaptation under Robert Eggers, the director behind Nosferatu, with Willem Dafoe connected to that project. (CBR) Two competing dark takes on Dickens, arriving around the same cultural moment, could spark the way Pinocchio or Snow White adaptations have in past years: a mirror-match of tone, aesthetics, and star power.

So what should fans actually expect in 2026? If the early signals hold, Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol won’t abandon the story’s warmth—but it may earn that warmth through colder terrain. The ghosts might feel less like friendly guides and more like merciless surgeons.

London could look less like a storybook and more like a city that chews people up. And Scrooge’s transformation may be played not as a quick sentimental pivot, but as a slow, painful unthreading of a life built on fear and control. That is the promise hidden in the poster’s atmosphere: the candle doesn’t just light the way—it exposes what Scrooge has hidden from himself.

November 13, 2026 is still a year away, and pre-production can shift. (IMDb) But the conversation has already started, fueled by one image and one casting reveal. If nothing else, this tells us something about the staying power of Dickens’ tale: every generation wants to be scared a little by its own greed, and reassured a little by the possibility of change. With Depp stepping into the role under a director who knows how to make ghosts feel real, the next Christmas Carol might deliver both—just not in the gentle way you remember.