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A Screen Daily report from May detailed how Justin Hardy’s Wrath of the Gods was launched in the Cannes market by the Unannounced Film Company to conclude the Wicker Man trilogy conceived by his late father Robin Hardy. The film follows the 1973 original and the 2011 sequel The Wicker Tree. Justin Hardy died of a heart attack just weeks before the August 28 premiere, according to Deadline.
The discovery of six sacks of family archive material in an attic prompted the project, as the brothers found the script and storyboards for the final installment that Robin Hardy had developed after an emergency landing in Reykjavik. Dominic Hardy explained that their father conceived the idea during recovery from heart issues involving Norse gods and an Icelandic volcano before shifting the setting to Shetland. The siblings co-wrote an original story centered on a grieving widow returning to an island called Hel.
Filming took place entirely in Shetland during spring 2025 with a mix of professional and local actors. Francis Magee from Game of Thrones and Norwegian performer Christiane Schaldemose lead the cast while residents such as Lynsey Rendall, John Haswell and teenager Martha Robertson took supporting roles. One local performer described the experience as a huge honour given the original film’s cultural footprint.
Wikipedia data places the 1973 The Wicker Man box office at $885,371 yet the production overcame significant challenges including unpaid cast members like Christopher Lee and competing edits that initially buried its release as a second feature. Total Film magazine ranked the picture sixth among the greatest British films in a 2004 assessment. The work introduced the wicker man effigy concept into broader popular culture and later inspired an annual music festival in Galloway.
Publicist Ned Mansfield said, “Justin was determined to complete his father’s vision for The Wicker Man in his final years.” The film is dedicated to Caroline Hardy, Justin’s mother and an uncredited executive producer on the original movie who died in 1984. Dominic Hardy noted the premiere will be a poignant moment blending sadness and celebration for the family.
Justin Hardy had built a career with nearly 50 credits including Emmy-nominated The Last Dragon and Bafta-nominated The Relief of Belsen before focusing on his father’s legacy in recent years. The pair documented their research in a 2024 book and documentary titled Children of the Wicker Man. The completion brings together the Hardy family despite the recent losses.
