Paramount Pictures turns Charles Dickens’ timeless Christmas classic into a darker Victorian fever dream—with Johnny Depp leading the way.
Christmas is coming early, but this year, it’s bringing a little darkness with it. Paramount Pictures has unveiled the official trailer for Ebenezer, a new dark-fantasy interpretation of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic A Christmas Carol, starring Johnny Depp as the miser whose name has become synonymous with Christmas redemption.
Directed by Ti West, Ebenezer isn’t hiding the fact that audiences already know the story. Instead, the film appears ready to ask a different question: What if you’ve heard the story before—but you’ve never seen it like this? That idea is baked directly into the film’s official tagline:
“The name you know, the story you don’t”.
Meet Scrooge Like You’ve Never Seen Him
Depp’s transformation is the first thing that commands attention. As Ebenezer Scrooge, the actor disappears beneath the character’s Victorian-era appearance, bringing a colder, more sinister energy to the infamous Christmas-hating miser.
The trailer introduces a man completely consumed by his own bitterness. Christmas means nothing to him. Compassion is seemingly a foreign language. And everyone around him feels the chill. That changes on Christmas Eve.
The ghost of Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, arrives with a warning. With that being said, everything Scrooge knows is about to change. Then the real nightmare begins.
Three Ghosts. One Very Unhappy Man.
If Scrooge thought Marley was the worst part of his Christmas Eve, he hasn’t met the rest of his visitors yet. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come return to guide Scrooge through the memories, consequences and possible future waiting on the other side of his choices. But Ebenezer appears to be giving these supernatural figures a visual identity of its own.
The trailer offers first glimpses at the film’s new interpretations of the three ghosts, along with visions that force Scrooge to confront the life he’s created and the person he’s becoming. Victorian England becomes less of a picturesque Christmas postcard and more of a haunting playground.
Johnny Depp Brings The Dark And The Humor
While the trailer leans heavily into its gothic atmosphere, there’s still room for Depp’s signature comedic timing. That balance could become one of Ebenezer‘s defining characteristics.
Scrooge is a character audiences have seen portrayed countless ways, from frightening to sentimental to outright comedic. Depp’s version appears to exist somewhere in the middle—menacing enough to make the supernatural elements feel unsettling, but eccentric enough to remind audiences that this is still a story about transformation. And transformation is ultimately what A Christmas Carol has always been about. The question isn’t whether Scrooge is cruel. It’s whether he can change.
A Familiar Story Gets A New Cast
Depp isn’t walking through Victorian London alone. The film features an impressive ensemble including Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Tramell Tillman, Daisy Ridley, Ian McKellen, Sam Claflin, Ellie Bamber, Nicholas Day, Charlie Murphy and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
With that cast surrounding Depp, Ebenezer has plenty of room to expand the world beyond Scrooge himself while maintaining the character’s transformation as its emotional center. And with Ti West behind the camera, the darker presentation feels right at home.
Christmas Just Got A Little Stranger
There have been countless versions of A Christmas Carol, but the story survives because its central idea remains timeless: people can become so consumed by what they have that they forget what actually matters. Ebenezer doesn’t need to reinvent that message. It simply needs to make audiences see it differently.
The first trailer suggests a film that understands the power of the familiar while refusing to make it feel comfortable. It has ghosts, Victorian streets, Christmas Eve and the Scrooge audiences already know—but the atmosphere feels colder, stranger and considerably more cinematic.
And Johnny Depp? He’s ready to make Ebenezer his own. The name is familiar and the ghosts are waiting. Now, all that’s left is to see what happens when Scrooge finally looks into the mirror. Ebenezer arrives exclusively in theaters November 13th, 2026.
