Believe it or not, but it’s been 11 years since Frank Darabont has directed anything. However, he was brought out of retirement by the Duffer brothers to helm two episodes of the fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Darabont is best known as the writer/director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, but he hasn’t been behind the camera since Mob City in 2013. The neo-noir crime drama, which Darabont also created, was cancelled after just six episodes and he hasn’t directed since. Darabont later said that he had been burnt out from decades of over-work, but the uplifting tone of Stranger Things 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 told The Daily Beast. “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.” When asked if this means he’ll be returning for more projects, Darabont isn’t sure. “Who knows?” he said. “I haven’t missed the business but I have missed being on set with creative people… It may well be one and done, but we’ve still got time.“
I’d love to see Frank Darabont return for another project, but I’ll be happy to take a couple of episodes of Stranger Things. The final season of the acclaimed Netflix series is highly anticipated, with fans anxious to see how the saga wraps up. Everything has been kept under wraps, but if Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) had his way, the show would kill off more characters. “It might sound messed up but we should kill more people,” Matarazzo said. “This show would be so much better if the stakes were much higher, like at any moment, any of these kids can kick it. I feel like we’re all too safe.” Who will survive the final season? We’ll have to wait and see.
Although this new season will be the end of Stranger Things, the Duffer brothers do have plans for a spinoff series which would be “very, very different” from the main show.