DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures have released the final trailer for Clayface, giving audiences a closer look at one of the DC Universe’s darkest theatrical stories yet. Directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan, Matt Reeves and Hossein Amini, the horror thriller stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, with James Gunn, Peter Safran and Matt Reeves among its producers. The film is scheduled to arrive in theaters internationally from October 21, 2026.
Rather than following a familiar superhero formula, Clayface places fear, transformation and psychological collapse at the center of its story. DC Studios has officially described the project as a horror thriller, while James Gunn has previously highlighted its body-horror influences. That makes the film an unusual entry in the new DC Universe, where a character from Gotham’s world is being explored through a much more unsettling genre.
At the heart of the story is Matt Hagen, a rising Hollywood actor whose career is suddenly devastated when he is horribly disfigured. With his future seemingly destroyed, Matt turns to a cutting-edge treatment that restores his appearance. The solution, however, comes with a terrifying cost. The treatment begins affecting his grip on reality and sends him down a destructive path driven by revenge, gradually transforming him into the shapeshifting figure known as Clayface.
The trailer gives that transformation a distinctly physical edge. Matt’s face changes, disappears and reshapes itself, turning the idea of losing one’s identity into something audiences can actually see. His powers are not simply presented as a comic-book ability; they become part of the horror surrounding a man whose body and sense of self are slipping beyond his control.
The film also carries a strong horror pedigree. James Watkins previously directed Eden Lake and Speak No Evil, both known for placing ordinary people inside deeply disturbing situations. Mike Flanagan, meanwhile, brings a background that includes The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. His involvement as a screenwriter gives the film an important connection to contemporary horror filmmaking, while Hossein Amini shares screenplay credit.
For longtime DC fans, the story also reaches back to Batman: The Animated Series. DC itself has pointed audiences toward the celebrated two-part “Feat of Clay” as an essential Clayface story. That episode explored the character through tragedy, identity and the devastating consequences of transformation, themes that make the animated classic an important reference point for this new film.
The project is also notable for the scale of its production. Reports have placed the budget at around $40 million, although that figure should be treated as an estimate rather than an officially confirmed production number. If accurate, the relatively contained budget places a major DC character inside a more focused genre framework instead of automatically demanding the enormous scale associated with superhero blockbusters.
Behind that approach is a major producing team. Matt Reeves, whose work on The Batman helped establish a grounded Gotham atmosphere, joins James Gunn and Peter Safran, the leaders of DC Studios, alongside producer Lynn Harris. Their involvement connects Clayface to the wider DC filmmaking structure while allowing James Watkins to shape a story with its own horror identity.
With its final trailer now revealing more of Matt Hagen’s disturbing descent, Clayface is shaping up as a film where the greatest threat may not come from a conventional villain, but from a person watching his own identity disappear. By bringing body horror, psychological tragedy and Gotham mythology together, the film gives the DC Universe a distinctly different kind of nightmare. The final trailer suggests that this transformation will be as emotional as it is grotesque, making Matt’s struggle for his former life central to the horror and giving Clayface a human foundation.
Watch Clayface Trailer:
