Ryan Gosling Is Returning to Music After 17 Years With His Spooky Rock Band

Published 10/23/2026, 8:53 AM CDT

via Imago

Ryan Gosling can play a plastic dreamboat, break a million hearts, and save the universe, but apparently, he can also make spooky music. After years of Barbie pink, emotional devastation, and Project Hail Mary space adventures, the Hollywood star is revisiting his darker side. Gosling and his rock band Dead Man’s Bones are returning with a new release in October.

It seems the actor has remembered that Hollywood is not his only stage, and Dead Man’s Bones is ready to rise again.

Dead Man's Bones returns with a teaser in hand

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Ryan Gosling has another reason to embrace the spooky season, and this time, it does not involve a superhero costume. After the announcement of his Ghost Rider casting, the actor has another project brewing, as Dead Man’s Bones prepares to release new music on October 27. The surprise was revealed through an eerie teaser posted on the duo’s official Instagram account.

The project reunites Gosling with screenwriter Zach Shields, his musical partner in the indie-rock duo known for turning ghosts, monsters, and childhood nightmares into haunting melodies. Their last album arrived in 2009, making this return a genuine blast from the past. Seventeen years later, the pair seem ready to let their peculiar musical world breathe again.

Ryan Gosling, Barbie (2023). Photo credit: Warner Bros. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xx 34529-025THA The H

The teaser, shared on Dead Man’s Bones’ official Instagram, suggests the duo has not abandoned its macabre imagination. A chilling monologue speaks of dead men rising, shadows crying, and ghosts returning to dance at twilight, before a young girl announces the October 27 date. With Halloween just around the corner, the timing feels deliciously deliberate.

Did Shawn Levy Really Say No to Tom Cruise’s 'Days of Thunder 2' in Favor of Ryan Gosling’s 'Ghost Rider'?

With new music adding another layer to Ryan Gosling’s already growing roster, one has to wonder why Dead Man’s Bones took 17 years to answer the call.

What kept the band away from the stage for 17 years

Dead Man’s Bones was never exactly designed to become the next arena-filling rock sensation, which helps explain why the duo did not rush to follow up its 2009 debut. Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields originally developed the project as a soundtrack for a play about a monster, a ghost, and a love story. When production costs killed the theatrical idea, the musicians transformed their peculiar concept into an album instead.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

via Imago

Keeping the spooky spectacle alive was hardly as simple as plugging in a guitar and summoning the dead. The duo relied on the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir to supply its signature ghostly vocals, then faced the task of coordinating local children’s choirs during a short Halloween tour in 2009. Between the unusual concept and the logistical juggling, Dead Man’s Bones was never the easiest band to keep on the road, which makes its long-awaited return all the more intriguing.

Ryan Gosling’s $130 Million Action Thriller Turns Its Box-Office Failure Into a Streaming Success

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Are you excited for Dead Man's Bones' return? Let us know in the comments!

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

ADVERTISEMENT

Iffat Siddiqui

1537 articles

Iffat is an Entertainment Journalist at Netflix Junkie. A word wizard, she had the sorting hat smoke at the seams owing to her excellence in everything Hollywood and cinema until it finally declared that she belonged to the Royals, specifically Meghan Markle. Boasting over 300 articles (and counting), each one tastefully infused with the right mix of facts, wit, opinion, and essentially everything to make a perfect pop culture piece, she is the epitome of a trustworthy entertainment journalist.

Edited By: Adiba Nizami

ADVERTISEMENT

EDITORS' PICK