Frank Darabont is returning to the director’s chair after 11 years of retirement just for ‘Stranger Things’ season 5.
Darabont shared with The Daily Beast that it was the heart of ‘Stranger Things’ that convinced him to come out of retirement. “What really dragged me out of retirement was that my wife and I really love this show,” Darabont admitted. “Our content now is so filled with horrible people doing horrible things for greedy reasons but ‘Stranger Things’ has so much heart. That positivity is something I really responded to.”
Darabont is set to direct two episodes of ‘Stranger Things’ in its fifth and final season. His last project as a director was the TNT series ‘Mob City’ in 2013. He also directed ‘The Mist,’ ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ and ‘The Walking Dead.’
Shawn Levy said last year that the fifth season will be even bigger than Season 4. “It’s major, major, cinematic storytelling that happens to be called a TV series,” he explained. “‘Stranger Things 5’ is as big as any of the biggest movies that we see.”
We don’t know if Darabont’s work on ‘Stranger Things’ will lead to more directing in the future. He admitted that he didn’t miss the business but missed being on set with creative people.
‘Stranger Things 5’ is currently filming in Atlanta and is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2025. This season will be the final one.