Stranger Things Star Directing Their Own Movie

A Stranger Things star is directing their own movie. It's just a testament to what talent this show was able to grab early on in the process.

By Doug Norrie | Updated

stranger things

Stranger Things fans have been waiting more than a little patiently for the fourth season of the hit Netflix show to finally make it to the streamer. It looks like we are getting a bit closer in that respect with more trailers and info coming out about how this next set of stories is going to line up for The Party. In the meantime, this group is hard at work on other projects outside of Hawkins, Indiana and one of them, Finn Wolfhard is set to get behind the camera as well. In an interview with NME (via Collider) Wolfhard announced that he is directing a short film that is also in the horror/ comedy vein. 

The Stranger Things star didn’t have a ton to say about his upcoming film which is tentatively titled Night Shifts. He said that it takes place at a summer camp and that it is a ‘horror-comedy slasher” flick. No other details are available about the Wolfhard-led film and it is something of an achievement to even be in the position of directing a film at this point, no matter the length. Wolfhard is just 18 years old, though he’s been making a name for himself in the industry for years now. 

Finn Wolfhard really put himself on the map back in 2016 when the first season of Stranger Things hit Netflix in a big way. The love letter to the 1980s hit in so many different ways thanks to its story, tight writing, aspects of nostalgia, sci-fi/ fantasy elements, plot twists, and more. But it also totally worked because of its cast, particularly the group of friends who’ve been basically tasked with saving the world from the confines of their little piece of suburbia. Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Caleb McLaughlin, along with Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp have formed one of the more iconic groups of “heroes”. Each has gone on to do bigger work in the industry, only proving that the original casting was spot on. 

Finn Wolfhard and company have been long-delayed on the fourth season of Stranger Things thanks to a confluence of factors, namely pandemic-related issues. The last season of the show aired all the way back in July of 2019. For a group of teenagers, this will have represented an incredibly long absence from the series. But it sure looks like things are ramping up now. The show just released an extended trailer that has Brown’s Eleven living with the Byers family in sunny California, pining for when she can once again be with Wolfhard’s Mike. 

Currently, it looks like the plan for Stranger Things Season 4 is to air sometime in 2022. It can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, in addition to making his directing debut, Finn Wolfhard is also set to star in another major hit, this time on the big screen. He has a starring role in Ghostbusters: Afterlife which is releasing on November 19th. In another bit of 80s nostalgia, he’ll be taking over for the titular group fighting those aspects of the paranormal. It is kind of in the actor’s wheelhouse at this point.