Dakota Johnson Officially Returns to ‘50 Shades of Grey’ Genre in 2 Days

Dakota Johnson has grown a lot as an actress since starring in the 50 Shades franchise, but she is finally returning to the dark erotica genre with the upcoming Verity. The film, which opens on October 2, 2026, also stars Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett, and is positioned as a psychological thriller with a seductive twist.

Johnson starred as Anastasia Steele in the 50 Shades franchise, which grossed over $1 billion worldwide. She has since balanced a career filled with heartwarming indies and franchise biggies. The upcoming adaptation looks like another attempt at going back to her star-making genre.

Dakota Johnson’s Verity Shares a Similar DNA to 50 Shades of Grey

Dakota Johnson in Verity | Credits: Amazon MGM Studios

Based on Coleen Hoover’s novel, Verity has been positioned as a dark, erotic thriller that follows a young author entering the world of an established writer as she struggles to finish her intended masterpiece. When Johnson’s character, Lowen, enters Verity’s world, she encounters a dark side to her that no one really knows.

If it sounds a tad bit familiar, it is because of the Dakota Johnson connection. Johnson herself played a similar role in the 50 Shades franchise, where she played a young literature student who goes to interview the wealthy Christian Grey and enters a sadomasochistic relationship with the businessman.

The film propelled her to global stardom, and she returned to star in two more films in the franchise, which was also a novel adaptation (and apparently, initially conceived as fan fiction of the Twilight books). The trilogy of films earned over $1.3 billion at the box office (via The Numbers). Johnson became a global s*x symbol.

While Verity is still awaiting release, the film also has a strong erotic vibe like the 50 Shades films and, as we saw before, has a similar plot structure. While we may not see an exact recreation of Johnson’s breakout franchise, things hint at some psychologically intense sequences that border on erotica in Verity. The film releases in two days.

Johnson Has Come a Long Way Since Her 50 Shades Days

A still from Fifty Shades Darker | Credits: Universal Pictures

The Twilight connection to Dakota Johnson does not stop here, though. Much like the vampire franchise’s lead star Robert Pattinson reinvented himself after all the fane, Johnson too has spent the last few years changing the way fans perceived her after the 50 Shades franchise with a balance of big-ticket franchises and smaller indie films.

The same year that Fifty Shades Freed, the last movie in the trilogy, was released, she took two bold swings with Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria, a surrealist horror film, and Bad Times at the El Royale, a Tarantino-esque heist thriller. Johnson’s performance was praised in both films, especially since Freed became the highest-grossing film of the trilogy.

Johnson has starred in multiple indie films since then, including The Peanut Butter Falcon, where she appeared alongside Shia LaBeouf, and in Cooper Raif’s coming-of-age drama, Cha Cha Real Smooth. She was also a producer on the film. As a producer, she has backed films like Tig Notaro’s Am I OK? and Christy Hall’s Daddio.

The actress came back to franchise films with Madame Web, which was a horrible misfire, and finds itself on the worst superhero movies list. She also made her directorial debut with the short film Loser Baby. Now, she is back with Verity, where she is also a producer. Much like Pattinson, Dakota Johnson seems to be exploring various kinds of roles in her career, while also keeping the commerciality in mind.

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