Night Shyamalan is one of the most notorious filmmakers in the horror and fantasy genres, responsible for titles like The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), or the recently released Knock at the Cabin (2023). And although he is still in a good shape developing still enjoyable titles, his lineage seems to be ensured. His daughter, 22-year-old Ishana Night Shyamalan, has had greenlit the production for her debut feature film as a director, the horror and thriller The Watchers (2024).The plot for the upcoming movie follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, as she gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland. After finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.The screenplay for The Watchers (2024) has been written by Ishana Night Shyamalan based on the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine.
Despite her young age, Ishana Night Shyamalan has been always in touch with the arts of movie making, and what started as a kid visiting her father on the film sets became her collaborating professionally in the projects. She was the second unit director for M. Night Shyamalan in Old (2021) and was the writer and producer together with her father of the Apple TV horror and mystery series Servant (2019–2023).
Ishana Night Shyamalan talked to Variety about debuting as her father’s second unit director. “It happened randomly […] I was doing work on Servant (2019–2023), and he [M. Night Shyamalan] pitched it to me far in advance. He said, ‘Would you be my second unit director?’ At first, I thought, ‘No way’… There was a lot of nervousness, but then as I got more comfortable working on Servant (2019–2023) with him, it seemed the natural thing to do. It was this incredible, spiritual experience for us. We were together every day on this beach for up to 12 hours a day and in tandem”. And about the working routines, she stated “the way he approaches movies is very prescribed and programmatic. He has everything storyboarded. In the hotel room, he had 12 huge storyboards with the whole movie laid out. We also talked about what elements I could grab on the island that would supplement the film such as nature shots, shots of the resort, and other transitional shots”.
The Watchers (2024) will be produced by New Line Cinema. It is set for a global theatrical release on June 7, 2024. M. Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan are also producing through their banner Blinding Edge Pictures. “We couldn’t be more excited to make Ishana’s first film. Equal parts visual, immersive, and terrifying, the script grips you from the first page and never lets go”, said Richard Brener, President and Chief Creative Officer at New Line Cinema.
I’ll come visit your set now.
https://t.co/PUw3ZhngYO pic.twitter.com/vbRW7Puz9w— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) February 14, 2023
