Justin Hardy, the British director and producer behind an upcoming sequel to his late father Robin Hardy's 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man, has died of a heart attack aged 61, just weeks before the film's premiere. He died on 31 July, with the new film, Wrath of the Gods, set to have its world premiere at Frightfest in London on 28 August, completing the trilogy his father began.

Hardy, born in London in 1964, spent most of his career making history and current affairs programming, earning nearly 50 credits including the Emmy-nominated The Last Dragon and Bafta-nominated The Relief of Belsen. In recent years he turned to his father's legacy after a lost archive was discovered in the attic of the family's former home, leading to the 2024 documentary Children of the Wicker Man and, ultimately, Wrath of the Gods, shot in Shetland and co-written with his half-brother Dominic Hardy. The film is dedicated to their mother, Caroline Hardy, revealed through the archive to have been a secret uncredited executive producer on the original Wicker Man; she died in 1984 aged 51.