M. Night Shyamalan's new movie has found its main cast members, with Hereditary and Jojo Rabbit stars included. After bursting onto the Hollywood scene in 1999 with The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan's career suddenly became defined by twist endings. His attempts to replicate the thrill of these surprises resulted in an uneven filmography for the director over the next decade. Although Shyamalan started to re-emerge with The Visit in 2015, it was the release of Split in 2016 and its surprise ending that truly reinvigorated the desire from audiences to seek out his work.
Split was a hit with critics and general audiences, as it earned Shyamalan the best reviews since The Sixth Sense and grossed $278 million worldwide. The success saw him then move to Glass (a sequel to Split and Shyamalan's previous film Unbreakable), but it was not received as kindly with critics and earned slightly less than Split. Despite that decline, Universal Studios invested in sticking with the director for his next two mystery projects. Now, the cast of Shyamalan's next movie has started to assemble.
A new report from Collider shared that Hereditary star Alex Wolff is in talks to play one of the lead roles in Shyamalan's film, more specifically the third lead. Shortly thereafter, Variety shared multiple other additions to the cast. Their sources shared that Jojo Rabbit star Thomasin McKenzie, Little Women's Eliza Scanlen, Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps, and Krypton's Aaron Pierre have joined Shyamalan's movie. Neither report was able to provide details on the project or the roles of the cast members due to the high levels of secrecy that surround Shyamalan's movies.
Even without plot details, the cast Shyamalan is assembling is already an exciting one. Although none of them are traditional box office stars, each have shown the ability to turn in great performances. McKenzie has become one of Hollywood's brightest young stars after Leave No Trace and Jojo Rabbit, while Wolff, Scanlen, and Krieps have had success in a variety of genres. As for Pierre, this could be a potential breakout role for him that comes after his work as one of the leads on Barry Jenkins' The Underground Railroad Amazon TV series.
The potential of this cast does still come without some certainty as to when audiences will be able to see the movie. As part of Universal's release date shifts, Shyamalan's film does not currently have a release date and it is unclear when production will begin as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. These reports do indicate there is a hope that filming will begin towards the end of 2020, making an early 2022 release possible for Shyamalan's latest directorial effort.
Sources: Collider, Variety