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Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult classic folk horror film, *The Wicker Man*, was originally envisioned by its creator as the first installment in a trilogy. The second film, *The Wicker Tree*, was released in 2011 but Hardy’s passing in 2016 at age 86 left the trilogy incomplete. Recently, Hardy’s sons, Justin and Dominic, have brought their father’s vision to fulfillment with the discovery of a long-lost script for the final chapter, *Wrath of the Gods*. This film is set to premiere at the FrightFest horror festival in London, fulfilling a family dream made possible by the unexpected finding of archival material.
The story of these lost archives is striking. When the buyer of Justin Hardy’s former family home found six sacks filled with letters, scripts, and other media linked to Robin Hardy and *The Wicker Man* in the attic, the brothers initially debated what to do. “Justin’s first instinct was to burn them, but we couldn’t ignore this original source material. Although we left it unopened for six months or more,” Dominic Hardy, an art historian based in Montreal, revealed. The recovered materials provided new insight into the intense legacy left by *The Wicker Man*, a film that came into being amid financial struggles, unpaid casts, and chaotic production conditions, including scenes shot in Galloway during late autumn and winter despite the film’s Hebridean springtime setting.
*The Wicker Man* occupies a unique place in British film history. Upon release, it was relegated to a second feature with competing edits and rumors of missing footage. However, its reputation grew profoundly over time; Christopher Lee regarded it as one of his greatest performances, and horror enthusiasts have celebrated its eerie tone and unsettling conclusion. When the BBC’s cult cinema series *Moviedrome* launched in 1988, a previously unseen version of *The Wicker Man* was chosen as its premiere screening. Yet, behind the film’s success was a troubled production and personal fallout—Robin Hardy faced financial ruin and family separation after the film, abandoning Justin’s mother Caroline amidst mounting debts.
The rediscovered archive contained not only scripts and storyboards but also the script for *Wrath of the Gods,* along with the original inspiration behind the story. After experiencing health issues necessitating a week’s recuperation in Reykjavik, Robin Hardy envisioned a theme park situated around an extinct Icelandic volcano, where Norse deities unleash chaos. He later decided the story should be set in Shetland to marry it with the other films in the trilogy. Working together, Justin and Dominic Hardy crafted a narrative centered on a young widow who returns to the island of Hel to bury her late husband, only to be ostracized as a portent of evil and misfortune when children vanish from the community. Filming began in Shetland in the spring of 2025, with a cast combining known actors like Francis Magee and Christiane Schaldemose, alongside numerous local performers.
The production drew praise and excitement from the local cast and crew, among them Lynsey Rendall, John Haswell, and Martha Robertson, who spoke of the honor and memorable experience of participating in a project linked to such an influential film. Unfortunately, the premiere has been overshadowed by the sudden death of director Justin Hardy last month at the age of 61. John Haswell expressed mixed feelings about the upcoming showing: “It will be wonderful and sad. A complex mixture of emotions.” Lynsey Rendall described the completion and screening of *Wrath of the Gods* as a near-miraculous achievement, bittersweet given Justin’s absence.
For the Hardy family, the completion of *Wrath of the Gods* is a moving tribute not only to Robin and Justin Hardy but also to Caroline Hardy, Justin’s mother and an uncredited executive
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