Alexander Skarsgård's 'Edward Scissorhands Meets The Shape Of Water' Is Already Impressing Critics

Alexander Skarsgård’s raunchy fantasy romantic comedy is one of his strangest projects yet, while attracting rave reviews from critics. Skarsgård’s best movies and TV shows have regularly been experimental, with a sense of humor, from his career-making role as Eric Northman in the genre-bending vampire drama True Blood, to a soap opera-loving security android in Murderbot, but the upcoming movie is on another level. Starring opposite Olivia Colman, Peter Dinklage, and encased in full-body prosthetics, Skarsgård is the unlikely hero of a bizarre fable that some reviews have compared to the most enduring love stories of our time.

From Beauty and the Beast to The Shape of Water, virtually every generation has an iconic unconventional movie couple, and the pair in Wicker might be the next. Olivia Colman plays The Fisherwoman, a social outcast who asks the local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to craft her a husband. The result is the sight of Skarsgård in a woven-plated prosthetic suit, helping The Fisherwoman with everything from breaking the bed during the movie’s surreal sex scenes to fixing it afterward. Wicker has been described as “absurdly hilarious and achingly romantic,” but the modern fable has a dark side.

Wicker Combines Edward Scissorhands’ Theme With The Shape Of Water’s Love Story

Based on the short story The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills-Jones, Wicker might sound familiar even to people who have not read the original tale. The story echoes that of Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece, The Shape of Water, which brings two misfits together in an ugly and lonely world. The Fisherwoman is ridiculed for being smelly and single, but finds happiness with an otherworldly partner, having taken control of her own love life. Olivia Colman’s best movies tend to show her in bold and quirky roles, but Wicker takes this to the extreme, while the viewer roots for her.

Not much has been revealed beyond Wicker‘s trailer, but a closer look at the costumes and townsfolk already hint that the movie might not be another romantic fantasy movie with a happy ending. The story might sound as though it bears little resemblance to Tim Burton’s futuristic fantasy, Edward Scissorhands, but the trailer reveals a striking similarity. The Wicker Husband and Edward Scissorhands are both human creations, who arrive to live in small and narrow-minded communities that are equally fascinated and repulsed by them.

Edward Scissorhands has a bittersweet ending after the community turns on the titular character, while The Shape of Water ends happily after a wild escape. It remains to be seen whether Wicker will follow the ending of the original story or take another path, but the characters may become romance icons either way. The movie is unapologetically weird and the many “wood” jokes write themselves, but critics are seeing more in the story, with Wicker already earning a 91% positive critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Reviewers Are Already Impressed By Wicker

Olivia Colman looking fascinated in Wicker

Wicker premiered in January 2026 as part of the Sundance festival, where it attracted overwhelmingly positive reviews for its storyline, acting, and breathtaking prosthetics. ScreenRant‘s review of Wicker describes the story as “an endlessly beautiful fairy tale,” praising Colman as “luminous.” Other reviews have highlighted Skarsgård’s ability to emote through full face makeup. That said, there is more to the movie than aesthetics, with many highlighting the sharp cultural commentary, ranging from on-the-nose, with married women wearing a literal collar, to more subtle, with male characters being defined by their professions and female characters being defined by their husbands.

Alexander Skarsgård’s full-body wicker outfit was made by New Zealand’s Wētā Workshop, with CGI added to make him appear hollow.

Not all reviews have been positive, with The Guardian‘s Benjamin Lee feeling that the “bawdy humour, dark fantasy and unlikely romance” do not blend well. However, this is largely subjective, with most other reviews praising that exact mix and Roger Ebert describing Wicker as “as real as it gets,” for its emotional depth and tonal shifts that reflect the multifaceted reality of life. It is possible that, like the story’s central husband, Wicker is a novelty, but the reviews look optimistic, with the adult fairytale potentially containing this generation’s iconic odd couple. Wicker hits US theaters on October 23.

Source: The Guardian, Roger Ebert