Callina Liang has put herself forward for a place in the upcoming Dead by Daylight movie. The actor, currently appearing in Street Fighter, has described herself as a major player of Behaviour Interactive's long-running asymmetrical horror game and says the news that Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are bringing it to the screen prompted an immediate, highly enthusiastic reaction.
Liang said she has a PC gaming setup at home and has recently been spending substantial time in Dead by Daylight. In the space of two months, she says she accumulated around 100 hours in the game. That level of familiarity is why she is keen to audition for the film rather than simply watch its production from a distance.
Speaking about her interest in the adaptation, Liang recalled meeting someone at Blumhouse and learning that a movie based on the game was in development. She said she "screamed and slid off the couch" upon hearing the news. Later, after hearing that members of the creative team were playing the game in the office as part of their preparation, Liang had a simple message: "Guys, just call me."
Embedded X/Twitter post
It is an unusually direct pitch, but it also reflects a question that will matter for any adaptation of a multiplayer game: how does a production translate the appeal understood by dedicated players into a feature-length horror story? Liang's enthusiasm is rooted not just in the brand recognition of Dead by Daylight, but in extensive hands-on experience with its systems, tension, and ever-expanding horror universe.
For useful background on this topic, read Nightshift Is a Roblox Racing Project Turning Heads With Its AAA-Style Visuals.
A gamer's pitch for a horror adaptation
Dead by Daylight is built around a 4-versus-1 format. Four Survivors attempt to evade a single Killer, repair generators, escape danger, and help one another survive. The Killer, meanwhile, hunts them across dangerous maps. That fundamental imbalance is the game's engine: one side must cooperate under pressure, while the other controls the pace, patrols objectives, and tries to turn small mistakes into eliminations.
For a film, that setup supplies an immediate horror framework. A group of people is trapped in a hostile environment. One relentless threat knows the terrain and is pursuing them. Every decision can expose someone else to danger. Yet the interactive nature of the game is also a major part of its identity. Players create their own stories through narrow escapes, missed saves, failed plans, and the occasional dramatic last-second exit.
Liang's comments suggest she understands that distinction from the player side. She is not discussing the game solely as a familiar horror property. Her 100-hour stretch means she has spent time inside the repeated match-to-match cycle that has kept the title active for years. Her offer to help the creative team learn about the game comes from the perspective of someone who feels she can explain what players respond to beyond the basic premise.
That does not confirm a casting decision, and no role for Liang in the movie has been announced. It does, however, make her interest clear at a time when the project has begun to establish a more defined filmmaking team. Whether she eventually joins the cast remains unknown.
The Dead by Daylight film has gained momentum
A movie adaptation of Dead by Daylight was first announced in 2023. For a period after that announcement, public details were limited. Movement on the project became clearer in 2026, when Blumhouse shared key creative hires in June.
Icelandic filmmaker Thordur Palsson is set to direct the movie. The screenplay is credited to Alexandre Aja, known for writing Crawl, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, a co-writer of The Conjuring 2. Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are attached to the adaptation.
Those names place the project squarely in a horror-focused space, which is fitting for a game whose core experience revolves around pursuit, uncertainty, and survival. Still, Dead by Daylight has a particularly broad kind of horror identity. Its own original Killers and Survivors sit alongside a substantial collection of characters and ideas from across horror culture. A film will need to decide how much of that wider crossover spirit belongs in one self-contained story and how much should be left for future possibilities.
No release date, cast list, or story details were announced alongside Liang's comments. There is likewise no indication of what character, if any, she hopes to play. Her remarks are best understood as an open expression of interest rather than confirmation that a deal is in place.
Why the game has so much material to draw from
Since its 2016 launch, Dead by Daylight has grown far beyond a single multiplayer release. Its premise has proven flexible enough to support a range of formats, even when those formats approach horror from very different angles. The franchise has received four video-game spin-offs, including a horror dating sim, as well as a pinball machine, a board game, and a comic-book series.
That expansion says a great deal about the property's adaptability. The original game provides the tense competition and chase mechanics. A dating sim can focus on personalities and playful genre remixing. A board game can turn the hunt into a tabletop experience. Comics can spend more time with character histories, imagery, and lore. The film will be another interpretation, and it will have to make choices about what version of Dead by Daylight it wants to be.
At its most straightforward, the movie could emphasize a compact survival-horror scenario: people facing a seemingly unstoppable pursuer in an environment that refuses to let them escape. But the franchise also has room for strange mythology, darkly playful genre awareness, and the uneasy feeling that its participants are being drawn into rules they did not create. The strongest adaptation may be one that uses the game's recognizable structure without treating a match as something that can simply be copied scene for scene.
The challenge is not unique to Dead by Daylight. Video game movies routinely face the task of converting player agency into character-driven drama. A game can generate suspense because a player chooses where to run, when to hide, or whether to risk saving a teammate. A film instead needs viewers to believe in the characters' decisions while preserving the same sense of mounting pressure. The four-Survivor-versus-one-Killer setup gives the filmmakers a useful starting point, but the drama will ultimately depend on the people caught inside it.
Liang's connection could be more than fandom
Actors with a genuine knowledge of a game are not automatically the right choice for every adaptation. Casting has to serve the film, its characters, and the director's vision. But familiarity with the material can be valuable, especially for a game with its own vocabulary, rhythms, and player expectations.
Liang's recent experience means she has encountered the practical emotions that define a match: the anxiety of being hunted, the importance of teammates, the changing balance of power, and the frustration or satisfaction that comes with an escape attempt. Those are feelings a screen adaptation will want to communicate, even if it radically reshapes the game's lore or structure.
Her comments also arrive while she is part of another major game adaptation. Street Fighter is currently in theaters, placing Liang at an interesting intersection of gaming and film. Her stated desire to move from one game-inspired movie project toward another highlights how video game adaptations continue to attract performers who are players themselves as well as audiences who know the original works.
For now, the Dead by Daylight movie remains a developing project with Palsson in the director's chair and Aja and Johnson-McGoldrick attached to the script. Liang has not been confirmed for it. What has been confirmed is her enthusiasm: after putting serious time into the game, she would clearly welcome the chance to bring that player perspective into the production.
What comes next
The next meaningful announcements will likely concern casting, story direction, and the eventual production timetable. Until then, fans have a few firm details to consider: Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are developing the movie, Palsson is set to direct, and the script is credited to Aja and Johnson-McGoldrick.
Liang's public call for an audition adds a personable note to that developing picture. It is not a formal casting reveal, but it is the kind of fan-to-filmmaker enthusiasm that can resonate with a community built around countless unpredictable matches. She has played enough to feel confident offering her expertise, and she wants the people making the movie to know she is ready to hear from them.
For a franchise founded on being summoned into a terrifying trial, that may be the most fitting audition request possible.
Community
Discussion
Start the conversation.
No comments have been posted yet.