EXCLUSIVE: Willem Dafoe to voice the Shinigami in Netflix's 'Death Note'

In the midst of filming Justice League, Willem Dafoe has closed 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, Mashable has exclusively learned.

Nat Wolff stars alongside Margaret Qualley, Keith Stanfield, Paul Nakauchi and Shea Whigham. Based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student (Wolff) who comes across a supernatural notebook that gives him the ability to kill anyone by writing their name while picturing their face. Drunk on power, he begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life. Roy Lee (The Ring) and Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) are producing Death Note with Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka. Jonathan Eirich and John Powers Middleton are executive producing with Miri Yoon and Brendan Ferguson.

The project 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. He recently appeared in John Wick and The Fault In Our Stars, and will soon be seen alongside Matt Damon in The Great Wall. Dafoe is represented by CAA and Circle of Confusion.