Willem Dafoe has struck a deal to voice Ryuk the Shinigami in Adam Wingard’s adaptation of the popular Japanese manga Death Note that will debut next year on Netflix, SmartGeek has discovered
Death Note was initially set up at Warner Bros. before moving to Netflix, which is currently in production on the project. Dafoe is a two-time Oscar nominee whose fanboy credits include Spider-Man and John Carter.
The story is based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone’s name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life.