The future of Dark Universe at Epic Universe: ‘more monster stories’ to come, says creative director
Will Dark Universe at Epic Universe see an expansion in its future? Or can we bury those hopes and dreams in the Darkmoor cemetery?
Ahead of Epic Universe’s grand opening tomorrow, May 22, 2025 in Orlando, Fla. Pete Carsillo, the Senior Creative Director of Dark Universe shared his hopes for the future of the immersive land themed to the Universal Classic Monsters during an interview with Attractions Magazine. “What’s nice about Dark Universe, and this is my hope for the future, is that if you were to go over the hill there’s more monster stories over there. If you were to go over the mountains, there’s more monsters stories over there. It doesn’t stop with what we see today, this is just the beginning, and so we really hope that we’ll bring new monsters to the story”.
Photo by Blake Taylor
Carsillo then went on to tease some of these possible new stories that could be told within the land of Darkmoor, “If you go into The Burning Blade [Tavern], you’ll see new monsters in there. You’ll see hints of new stories everywhere. That’s what we’re hoping: is that we can keep expanding the classic Universal Monsters stories in that way.”
Epic Universe has yet to open and Universal Creative is already thinking of possible stories that could be told beyond Frankenstein Manor. In the land’s main attraction, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, you’ll encounter a wider variety of Universal Classic Monsters.
What do you think of this possibility? What stories would you like to see be told within the land of Dark Universe? Stay tuned to Attractions Magazine as we cover the grand opening festivities of Universal Orlando Resort’s brand new theme park, Epic Universe.
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Creature from the Black Lagoon ride would be great. This land unfortunately is too small for how cool it is, so an additional attraction (or two) would be awesome.
Also, Ygor is awesome.
I’d like to see the Dark Universe expansion used similar to Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean and Epcot’s Mexico pavilion, in which it not only has a boat ride (Creature From the Black lagoon) but it also has an always-night restaurant and retail along an indoor lagoon.
Since CFtBL takes place in the Amazon, this would be a tropical shanty/river docks environment with a latin-drinks (tequila, mezcal, rum…) bar/cantina filled with artifacts…kind of Trader Sam’s or Adventurer’s Club vibe. The retail would be exploratory outfitter’s theme. It would be a “cool” (literally) place to get out of the sun.