Unless you have been living under a rock, you have seen the trailer. A woman in a fishing village commissions a husband woven entirely out of wicker, he turns out to be kind and devoted and improbably swoony. So naturally the whole town loses its collective mind about it.
The movie is Wicker. It premiered at Sundance in January, and hits US theaters this October.
Here is the thing a lot of people do not realize: it is based on a short story you can read in about fifteen minutes. Below is a link to the original story "The Wicker Husband", what it is actually about, and everything we know about the film so far, including a cast you genuinely could not have guessed.
What Is Wicker Based On?
Wicker is adapted from "The Wicker Husband," a 2008 short story by British writer Ursula Wills-Jones. It is a modern fairy tale, the kind of thing that reads like a folk legend someone forgot to write down a century ago, and it built a quiet cult following online long before Hollywood came knocking. It has also had a life on stage: it was developed into a musical (workshopped through NAMT and staged in the UK) before the film adaptation.
Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson wrote the screenplay themselves, expanding a very short story into a full feature while keeping to its strange, tender, faintly melancholy source material.
Where to Read "The Wicker Husband"
Good news: it is short and free. You can read the whole thing in about fifteen minutes, which means you can easily fit it in before the movie.
You can read "The Wicker Husband" for free on Scribd, where the full text is posted. It is free to read with ads, or you can start Scribd's 30-day free trial to read it ad-free. (The story lived for years on the short-fiction archive East of the Web, but that link is currently down, so Scribd is the most reliable option right now.)
One gentle warning before you click, which brings us to the summary.
What "The Wicker Husband" Is About
A heads up before you read on: it starts whimsical and turns genuinely dark. Here is the spoiler-free version first, then a full summary for anyone who wants it.
The setup (no real spoilers). The story follows a young woman known in her village only as "the ugly girl." She guts fish for a living, she has no family and no friends, and the town has quietly decided she is beneath them.
Instead of waiting for a suitor who will never come, she saves six gold coins and walks out to the swamp, where a famous old basket-maker lives, and asks him to weave her a husband.
He does, and the wicker husband comes to life devoted, gentle, tireless, and openly in love with her. For the first time, she is happy. The trouble is that the village cannot forgive her for it.
Full summary, including the ending (spoilers ahead).
The wicker husband is everything the village men are not. He fixes the house, dances beautifully, murmurs sweet nothings, never eats, never complains, and adores his wife in plain sight.
The "ugly girl" blooms, and the village curdles. Wives nag their husbands, the men feel shown up, and idle jealousy hardens into a plan. When the wicker husband politely turns down the baker's nudge that he stray, and the ugly girl slaps away the tailor's wife's poisonous "warning" that he has been unfaithful, the village decides something drastic has to be done.
They pay the old basket-maker to weave a wicker baby, then carry it to the couple's door as a trap, presenting it as proof of the husband's affair. In the chaos the tailor threatens to throw the baby in the fire and the wicker husband lunges to save it. The ugly girl, misreading the moment through a haze of jealous grief, hurls the oil lamp at her own husband. He goes up in flames and throws himself into the river. The villagers stroll home to their dinners, and the tailor's wife stamps the wicker baby into a ditch on the way.
Half-mad with grief, the ugly girl later finds the baby still alive and takes it home. Meanwhile the old basket-maker discovers what is left of the wicker husband on the swamp road, burned, rotting, and tongueless, and carries him home to repair him, his heart hot with anger.
Once his creation is whole again, he goes to the ugly girl and tells her the truth. He made the baby himself, it carries his own face and not the husband's, and her husband never betrayed her. She destroyed the one person who loved her over a lie. He leads her to his home in the swamp, where her husband sits waiting and the two are reunited.
Then the basket-maker gets even. He announces to the village that he is retiring and weaving one final work. His ultimate masterpiece, a wicker woman. Whoever brings him the finest retirement gift can have her. The same town that spent the whole story calling the wicker family an abomination is instantly consumed by greed.
Neighbors evict, sue, and sabotage each other to win her. On the appointed day they heap their treasure on him, the butcher "winning" with a small herd of livestock, and the basket-maker calmly loads up every last gift.
When he delivers the veiled bride, she turns out to be woven not from the gentle willow of the husband but from blackthorn. Cold, hard, thorny, and impossible to kill by fire or frost. She kisses the butcher and shreds his mouth to ribbons. By the time the enraged villagers slog back through the swamp to take revenge, the basket-maker, the wicker husband, the ugly girl, the baby, and every scrap of the village's riches have vanished for good.
It is a fable about loneliness. About who society decides is allowed to be loved. About people who punish difference while secretly coveting it. It is funny, cruel, and, in the end, deeply satisfying.
What We Know About the Wicker Movie So Far
Release date. Wicker opens in US theaters on October 23, 2026, distributed in North America by Black Bear Pictures.
Festival premiere. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2026, where the first-look buzz was immediate and very online (the internet spent a solid week thirsting over, yes, a man made of wicker).
The filmmakers. It is written and directed by the duo Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, adapting Wills-Jones' story.
Where it was made. Production wrapped in Budapest, Hungary in late 2025, which is part of how the film gets that timeless, storybook-village look.
The tone. Early reviews peg it as an oddball fable: absurd, sincere, a little spicy, and more emotionally affecting than the "hot wicker husband" line suggests. It is being talked about as a prestige-indie crowd-pleaser rather than a straight comedy or a horror movie.
A personal project. Olivia Colman is not just starring, she is also a producer on the film through her and Ed Sinclair's company, South of the River Pictures, so this is clearly a passion project for her.
Wicker Movie Cover
The Cast You Would Never Have Guessed
Describe this movie to someone and then ask them to guess the cast. They will never get it. It is a wildly eclectic, absurdly prestigious ensemble:
- Olivia Colman as the outcast fisherwoman at the center of it all.
- Alexander Skarsgård as the Wicker Husband himself. Yes, that is the casting the internet reacted to.
- Peter Dinklage as the Basket Weaver who brings him to life.
- Elizabeth Debicki as the Tailor's Wife.
- Richard E. Grant as the Village Doctor.
- Nabhaan Rizwan as the Tailor.
- Marli Siu as the Basket Weaver's sister.
- Ella Bruccoleri rounding out the village.
Should You Read the Story First?
Completely up to you, but the story is short and incredibly well written. Plus it will make you appreciate how much Fischer and Wilson had to invent to stretch fifteen minutes of fable into a feature. If you would rather stay totally unspoiled for the film's take, the premise alone is all you need, and you can read the original afterward to see what changed.
Either way, this is one of the most charming book-to-screen stories of the year, and it started with a free short story almost no one was talking about.
In the mean time check out this month's new releases.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the movie Wicker based on?
Wicker (2026) is based on "The Wicker Husband," a 2008 short story by British writer Ursula Wills-Jones about a village outcast who commissions a husband woven from wicker.
Where can I read "The Wicker Husband" short story?
It is free to read on Scribd, either free with ads or ad-free through Scribd's 30-day free trial. It is a quick read, roughly fifteen to twenty minutes. It was previously hosted on East of the Web, but that link is currently down.
Who is in the cast of Wicker?
Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård (as the wicker husband), Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Richard E. Grant, Nabhaan Rizwan, Marli Siu, and Ella Bruccoleri.
When does Wicker come out?
It premiered at Sundance on January 24, 2026, and opens in US theaters on October 23, 2026.
Is Wicker a horror movie?
No. Despite the eerie, folk-horror ring of the title, it is an oddball romantic fable with dark and comic edges, not a horror film. (The source short story does go to some genuinely dark places, though.)
Who directed Wicker?
Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson wrote and directed it, adapting Ursula Wills-Jones' short story.
