While Jenna Ortega and Mia Goth are currently Hollywood's reigning horror movie scream queens, Hunter Schafer gives them a run for their money with 2024's Cuckoo. Produced and distributed by Neon, the company behind the most recent Best Picture winner Anora, Cuckoo tells the story of Gretchen (Schafer), a teenager who goes to live with her father in the German Alps, where she learns a shocking family secret. Critics largely enjoyed Cuckoo, awarding it a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, with most of the praise going to the cast.

I, for one, am not surprised at Cuckoo's positive reception, as I was excited for the film's release ever since its 2023 cast announcement in which Deadline shared that Dan Stevens and Jessica Henwick were ing Schafer. Every actor is at the top of their game in this movie, and it's the best work Hunter Schafer has done since Euphoria. Though Cuckoo's ending definitely leaves the door open for a sequel, in the meantime, I'm happy to check out the other movies and TV shows in the cast's filmography.

Hunter Schafer As Gretchen

Born On December 31, 1998

Actor: Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, Hunter Schafer attended the North Carolina School of Arts and began modeling at the age of 17. She made her acting debut playing Jules Vaughn in the acclaimed HBO series Euphoria — a character who, like Schafer, is transgender.In 2023, Schafer expanded her filmography as the stylist and underground rebel Tigris Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Some of her projects include the films Mother Mary and Palette, along with Blade Runner 2099, the sequel series to Blade Runner 2049, and Euphoria season 3.

Notable Roles:

Character: Recently grieving the death of her mother, teenager Gretchen moves with her father, stepmother, and half-sister to a resort in the Bavarian Alps. The difficult transition is exacerbated by the mysterious appearance of a strange hooded woman, who seems to be less than human. Her father's business associate, Herr König, gives Gretchen the creeps, and she later discovers that her suspicions of him are horrifyingly correct.

Dan Stevens As Herr König

Born On October 10, 1982

Actor: English actor Dan Stevens is best known for his role as Matthew Crawley in the British period drama series, Downton Abbey. After leaving Stevens left Downton Abbey for personal and professional reasons, the actor continued his career in America, appearing in movies like The Fifth Estate (2013) and The Guest (2016).

Stevens went on to land the role of the Beast in the 2017 live-action remake of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and played David Haller in the psychedelic superhero sci-fi series Legion, based on the Marvel Comics character. Along with providing the voice of Korvo in the adult animated comedy Solar Opposites, Stevens has several movie and TV projects in the works.

Notable Roles:

Character: Herr König is overseeing the building of a new hotel in the Bavarian resort town, but it's clear from the start that something is not right with this sinister character. It turns out that König is one of a team of scientists that are experimenting with a strange entity — a humanoid creature that has a similar biology to a cuckoo bird. König has been inseminating human hosts so that the creature's young will be raised and developed by humans, creating a terrifying breed of monsters.

Marton Csokas As Luis

Born On June 30, 1966

Actor: Born in Invercargill, Aotearoa, New Zealand, Marton Csokas has been in the acting game for decades. He got his start in New Zealand television and film, including appearing in popular fantasy shows like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He is best known for playing Celeborn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings, although many audiences may recognize him from the action thriller xXx, when he played the Russian crime boss, Yorgi.

Csokas has since been in several successful films and TV shows, including Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, The Equalizer, and Into the Badlands. According to his IMDb page, he is due to play Hungarian classical composer Franz Liszt in the period drama Wagner in Venice.

Notable Roles:

Character: After Luis and his wife are hired by Herr König to build a new hotel, he moves his family to a small town in the Bavarian Alps. Tensions are thick between Luis and his daughter, Gretchen, as the younger daughter, Alma, who has mutism, takes up most of his attention. When Gretchen voices her suspicions about König and the goings-on at the resort, Luis doesn't believe her, thinking that her paranoia is simply a manifestation of mourning her mother's death.

Jessica Henwick As Beth

Born On August 30, 1992

Actor: Born in Surrey, England, British actor Jessica Henwick's first acting job was an uncredited role in St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. Since then, Henwick has gone on to appear in some big franchises, including Game of Thrones, where she played Nymeria Sand. She also starred in the Netflix Marvel show The Iron Fist as Colleen Wing, and played X-wing pilot Jess Testor in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. She is slated to appear in an episode of the Silo, as well as the comedy thriller movie Huntington alongside Glen Powell and Ed Harris.

Notable Roles

Character: Beth is the wife of Luis and the mother of Alma, who accompanies her family to start a new life in the Bavarian Alps. She has trouble connecting to her stepdaughter, Gretchen, and has no idea that she is actually instrumental to Herr König's horrifying plot.

Jan Bluthardt As Henry

Born In 1978

Actor: Jan Bluthardt is a German actor who has an extensive background in theater, having attended the acclaimed German arts and drama school, Schauspielhaus Bochum. He has acted on stage in several productions and is a member of the Basel Theater actor ensemble. His first film was the horror thriller Luz, which was also written and directed by Cuckoo's Tilman Singer.

Most Notable Roles

Character: Bluthardt plays Henry in Cuckoo, the only one who believes Gretchen about the strange happenings at the resort and helps her search for the truth. Henry believes his wife was killed by the same hooded woman that Gretchen encountered, and swears to get revenge on the people responsible.

ing Cast And Characters In Cuckoo

Mila Lieu as Alma: Alma is Gretchen's younger half-sister. She cannot speak, and begins to have what seems like seizures and strange episodes when she and her family move into Herr König's resort. Lieu played Tang in the BBC series Dodger and starred in the 2025 horror-comedy Bad Things.

Greta Fernández as Trixie: Trixie works at the resort reception desk with Gretchen. The Spanish actor has been active since 2006, with credits that include the TV series La Riera, the 2019 movie A Thief's Daughter, and a starring role in 2024's Spanish indie drama Los Bárbaros.

Proschat Madani as Dr. Bonomo: Dr. Bonomo is the neighbor of Gretchen's family who warmly welcomes their arrival but is not who he says he is. Proschat Madani is an Iranian actor from the series Walking on Sunshine and Morden im Norden, and was in an episode of Foundation.

Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Ed: While working at the resort's reception desk, Gretchen meets one of the guests, a woman named Ed, and the two strike up a romance. Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey was in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as the mermaid, Syrena. She also played the Mage in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Kalin Morrow as Hooded Woman: Kalin Morrow plays the terrifying cuckoo entity, which appears as a hooded woman with dark sunglasses and red pinpoints for her eyes. Morrow has been in a few uncredited roles in episodes of How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, and Men at Work. Cuckoo is Morrow's first feature film.