Ari Aster’s Mysterious ‘Scapegoat’ Keeps Growing: Cory Michael Smith Joins

Nobody outside the production seems to know what Ari Aster’s next movie is actually about. That hasn’t stopped it from turning into one of the most stacked casts in the genre. The latest name to sign on to Scapegoat , Aster’s fifth feature with A24, is Cory Michael Smith, according to a new report from Deadline. He’s joining in a role that, like almost everything else about this film, is being kept completely under wraps.

If you’ve been following along, you know the secrecy is half the fun. Here’s what we actually know about Scapegoat , who’s in it, and what the rumors say it might be.

Who is Cory Michael Smith?

Genre fans probably know Smith best as Edward Nygma, the Riddler, across five seasons of Fox’s Gotham. He made that version of the character twitchy, needy and genuinely unsettling, which is exactly the kind of energy Aster loves to put on screen.

He’s also built a serious film résumé. He played Chevy Chase in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night , turned up in Todd Haynes’ May December , and appeared in Damien Chazelle’s First Man. He has a knack for characters who seem friendly right up until they really, really aren’t, and that’s a big part of why this casting feels like such a natural fit.

The cast so far

Smith joins a lineup that has been growing steadily since spring:

• Scarlett Johansson was announced as the lead back in May.
• Jacob Elordi came aboard over the summer.
• Jude Law was next to join.
• Ella Purnell ( Fallout , Yellowjackets ), Samba Schutte and Caleb Landry Jones ( Get Out ) were added in late September.
• Cory Michael Smith is the newest addition.

That’s a remarkable group for a film with no public plot. It says a lot about how much actors want to work with Aster right now, mystery and all.

So what is Scapegoat about?

Officially, nobody is saying. Aster wrote the original screenplay himself, and A24 has released no logline, no synopsis and no genre label.

The rumor mill has filled the gap with wildly different guesses. Some reports have pointed to a story about a doctor dealing with the fallout from an operation on an internet celebrity. Others have floated a science fiction love story, and some have suggested a more traditional drama. None of these have been confirmed, so treat them as campfire stories until A24 says otherwise.

The title itself is a clue worth chewing on. A scapegoat is someone who takes the blame for everyone else’s sins, and Aster has built his whole career on families, communities and crowds that turn on one unlucky person. Whatever genre this ends up being, it’s hard to imagine it being comfortable.

Why horror fans are watching closely

Aster broke out with Hereditary in 2018, still one of the most upsetting studio-backed horror movies of the century, and followed it with the sun-drenched cult nightmare Midsommar. Since then he’s drifted further from straight horror. Beau Is Afraid was a three-hour anxiety dream, and Eddington was a pandemic-era western.

Even his non-horror work is soaked in dread, though. Every Aster movie feels like it could turn into a horror film at any moment, and that tension is exactly what keeps genre fans coming back. Scapegoat will be his fifth film with A24, a partnership that has defined modern elevated horror more than almost any other.

Who’s making it

Aster is writing and directing, and he’s producing with longtime partner Lars Knudsen through their company, Square Peg. Knudsen has been with Aster since the beginning and also produced films like The Witch and Midsommar , so the creative team behind the scenes is about as horror-proven as it gets.

When will we see it?

A24 hasn’t announced a release date or a production schedule. With the cast still growing in October, cameras likely haven’t rolled yet, which would put a release in 2027 at the earliest. We’ll update as soon as A24 shares anything official, especially a first look or a plot.

The bottom line

A secret Ari Aster script, a cast this deep, and a title that practically promises someone is going to suffer for everyone else. We don’t know what Scapegoat is yet, but it’s already one of the films we’re most curious about.

What’s your guess? Is Aster going back to full-on horror with this one, or is he about to surprise everybody again?

Sources: Deadline, Gizmodo, The Playlist, Cinefilos, Cineserie