THE WATCHERS Trailer 2 (2024) Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell

THE WATCHERS Trailer 2 (2024) Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell

THE WATCHERS Trailer 2 (2024) Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Ishana Shyamalan
© 2024 - Warner Bros

"You have five seconds before the door is sealed." Warner Bros & New Line Cinema have unveiled the full official trailer for the mysterious horror thriller from the Shyamalan family titled The Watchers. Set to open in June this summer, a few months before M. Night Shyamalan's Trap. This is adapted from the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine, and is directed by M. Night's daughter named Ishana, making her feature directorial debut after working on the "Servant" series directing episodes. A young woman gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest somewhere in western Ireland, where, after finding her way to a shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night. What do they want with them...? The crew includes DP Eli Arenson with music by Abel Korzeniowski. The thriller stars Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere. Oh this looks damn good! I love a "what is going on?!" mystery like this. And they don't reveal any of the creatures yet! I'll be watching, too.

Here's the main official trailer for Ishana Night Shyamalan's The Watchers, direct from WB's YouTube:

The Watchers Poster

You can rewatch the teaser trailer for Ishana Night Shyamalan's The Watchers right here for more footage.

From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, written & directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. The Watchers is written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, M. Night's daughter, making her feature directorial debut after writing / producer / directing on the "Servant" series. Adapted from the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, and Nimitt Mankad. Executive produced by Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer. Warner Bros will release Shyamalan's The Watchers in theaters worldwide starting on June 7th, 2024 coming soon this summer. Who wants to watch this film?
"You can't see them, but they see everything." Warner Bros/New Line Cinema have revealed the first teaser trailer for a new mysterious horror thriller from the Shyamalan family titled The Watchers. Not connected to the Maika Monroe horror film The Watcher. This is adapted from the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine, and is directed by M. Night Shyamalan's daughter Ishana, making her feature directorial debut after working on the "Servant" series before this. A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night. The crew includes DP Eli Arenson, production designer Ferdia Murphy, editor Job ter Burg, and costume design by Frank Gallacher, with music by Abel Korzeniowski. The thriller film stars Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere. Welcome to the show. Yeah this looks very creepy and peculiar, I am definitely in. Don't you wanna know what they are?

Here's the teaser trailer (+ poster) for Ishana Night Shyamalan's The Watchers, direct from YouTube:

The Watchers Poster

From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, written & directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. The Watchers is written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, M. Night's daughter, making her feature directorial debut after writing / producer / directing on the "Servant" series. Adapted from the novel of the same name by A.M. Shine. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, and Nimitt Mankad. Executive produced by Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer. Warner Bros will release Shyamalan's The Watchers in theaters worldwide starting on June 7th, 2024 this summer. First impression? How does that look so far?
In her feature film directorial debut, Ishana Shyamalan will take the reins from her father, M. Night Shyamalan, to create the upcoming horror mystery film, The Watchers. She has been carving out her writing and directing career since age 19 by working alongside him as a writer, producer, and director for M. Night’s Apple TV+ series Servant. The show, which is in its fourth and final season, includes ten episodes written by Ishana, and out of the six that she also directed, two were season finales. The now-22-year-old director also worked alongside her father as an assistant director for his 2021 movie Old, and the 2023 film Knock At The Cabin.

Ishana’s upcoming film, The Watchers, was picked up by New Line Cinema earlier last year, with President and Chief Creative Officer Richard Brener stating “The script grips you from the first page and never lets you go.” This article will let you know everything there is to know about the upcoming movie.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on April 23, 2024.

The Watchers Film Poster
The Watchers
Horror
Fantasy
Mystery
Release Date
June 7, 2024
Director
Ishana Shyamalan
Cast
Dakota Fanning , Georgina Campbell , Olwen Fouéré , Siobhan Hewlett
Main Genre
Horror
Writers
A.M. Shine , Ishana Shyamalan
Does 'The Watchers' Have a Release Date?
Dakota Fanning as Mina, tapping her reflection in The Watchers.Image via Warner Bros.
The Watchers will be arriving in theaters on Friday, June 7, 2024. The movie had been initially scheduled for this very date, but was later pushed back one week. In April 2024, it was announced that the horror film had moved back to its original release date.The movie will be opening against the buddy-cop action comedy sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The Watchers will mark the first film in the 2024 summer movie season from Blinding Edge Productions, with the second film being M. Night Shyamalan's thriller Trap starring Josh Hartnett.

As there's been a recent surge in pushing to bring exclusive theatrical releases back, the movie will only be released in theaters at first but will then have a streaming release at a later date. With New Line Cinema (and parent company Warner Bros. Pictures), the movie will most likely be available to stream on Max (formerly HBO Max) after its theatrical run and available to purchase or rent on other streaming services like Amazon Prime or Google Play.

Is There a Trailer for 'The Watchers'?
Yes, there is! The official trailer was just recently released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Watchers themselves have yet to be revealed in the trailer, but you can get an idea of what kind of creatures they are in this 2-minute teaser trailer. If you've ever kept pets in a glass tank, such as fish, hamsters, or even an ant farm... you'll soon know what it feels like to be observed for entertainment.

The second trailer for The Watchers was released by Warner Bros. on April 22, 2024.

What Is 'The Watchers' About?
A group of four people staring at a winged skeleton in The Watchers.Image via Warner Bros.
The Watchers is based on the A.M. Shine novel of the same name and will follow 28-year-old Mina as she travels the Western Irish countryside. After Mina’s car breaks down, she is forced to continue on foot in search of assistance. As she wanders through the forest and darkness begins to set, a strange woman screams at her, urging her to get inside a nearby concrete bunker quickly. Inside, she meets three strangers, all of whom look equally terrified. With the door shut, leaving them in darkness, an automatic light turns on, revealing a glass wall to the outside.

Monstrous underground creatures emerge from the depths of the forest once the sun has disappeared and begin to observe the people trapped inside the enclosure. The four strangers are essentially on display like zoo animals. Mina has no idea what The Watchers want from them, or worse, what will happen if anyone is unable to make it into the bunker before nightfall. One common denominator between Mina and her fellow captives is that they all come from situations where nobody will come looking for them.

If Mina escapes, will she be able to make it out of the forest before darkness falls? The novel has been described as a combination of Cabin In The Woods and Lost, so the story appears to be in good hands with both Ishana writing the screenplay.

The official synopsis for The Watchers by Warner Bros. reads:

The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

Who's In the Cast of 'The Watchers'?

As of right now, only two cast members have been confirmed. Dakota Fanning, will be playing the protagonist, Mina. Fanning has been acting for most of her life, from her earliest roles in movies such as I Am Sam, Man on Fire, and War of the Worlds to more adult roles like in The Twilight Saga, Ocean’s Eight, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Mina’s character in the novel is a struggling artist without a steady income. She pays her rent primarily by selling a few commissioned paintings and gambling at card games at her local pub in Galway, Ireland.

Georgina Campbell will co-star with Fanning in The Watchers, as one of the other two women that Mina is trapped with. The English actress made a splash as the protagonist in Zach Cregger’s thriller, Barbarian, and starred in the series Suspicion. In addition to Campbell, Olwen Fouéré joins the cast as the other woman in the bunker, named Madeline. Fouéré is an Irish actress, fluent in both English and French. She's best known for her portrayal of Sally Hardesty in the 2022 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and was also featured in The Northman and Mandy. Oliver Finnegan (Outlander) will play a character named Daniel, who has also found himself in the same predicament as the other three women. Also listed in the cast list are Alistair Brammer (Les Misérables) as a character named John, Hannah Howland (Arthur's Whisky) as Chloe, Siobhan Hewlett (Sherlock) as Mina's mother, Anthony Morris (Game of Thrones) as Burke, Jacob Greenway (Father Brown) as Jordan, and Shane O'Regan (The Shamrock Spitfire) as Collin.

Similarly to M. Night Shyamalan’s films Knock At The Cabin, Devil, and Split, this movie will have a relatively small cast, as the main characters are in isolation with no communication with the outside world. In the novel, Mina’s character finds herself trapped in the bunker with Madeline, who called her inside on the first night, another woman (played by Georgina Campbell) and Daniel. A few other characters are mentioned within the novel, but it's unclear what roles they will play in the upcoming film just yet. Considering the movie is an adaptation of the novel, we can only assume that the story will stay close to the source material unless there are drastic changes in the screenplay adaptation.

When and Where Did 'The Watchers' Film?
Georgina Campbell, Dakota Fanning, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere, turning their heads away from their reflections in The Watchers.Image via Warner Bros.
Filming took place in Dublin, Wicklow, and Galway in Ireland last year in July and wrapped in September. Halfway through filming, this project was granted an interim agreement to continue shooting despite the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Who Is Making 'The Watchers'?
Custom image from Jefferson Chacon of writher/director Ishana Night Shyamalan for The Watchers
As previously stated, Ishana Night Shyamalan will be making her feature directorial debut with The Watchers, after having worked with her father on the series Servant. M. Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan will produce the film through their production company, Blinding Edge Pictures, Inimitable Pictures' producer Nimitt Mankad, and executive producers Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.

Inshana Shyamalan's Filmography
Servant Season 2 Ambrose Kebbell GrintImage via Apple TV+
Since this film will be Ishana Shyamalan’s first feature debut, the only way to gauge her directorial chops would be to watch some of the episodes of Servant that she wrote and directed. In an interview that M. Night Shyamalan gave regarding her involvement in the series, he said he brought her on board after being impressed with the short films she created while attending NYU. He added that each episode of Servant was essentially a short film in and of itself, as each episode has a 30-minute runtime.

If you have an Apple TV subscription, you can see her directing skills come to life in Seasons 2, 3, and 4. In Season 2, Shyamalan wrote and directed Episode 3, “Pizza,” and the season finale, “Josephine.” In Season 3, she wrote and directed Episode 2, “Hive,” and the season finale, “Mama.” Lastly, in the fourth and final season, she wrote and directed Episodes 3 and 7, titled “Séance” and “Myth,” respectively.
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The cast chemistry was achieved through a Zoom read-through and casting that mirrors the characters' initial interactions in the film.
Despite a quick filming schedule, Shyamalan prioritized rehearsal time to deepen the understanding of scenes and relationships, ensuring a strong performance.
Ishana Night Shyamalan is making her feature film directorial debut with The Watchers, a fantasy horror movie that she wrote based on A.M. Shine's book. As the daughter of the noted master of thrills M. Night Shyamalan, she has already dipped her toe in the directing pool by helming 6 episodes of his Apple TV+ show Servant, but now she will have a larger platform to display her talents.

The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning as Mina, a 28-year-old artist whose car breaks down in the middle of a strange and untouched forest in western Ireland. Strange sounds and wild creatures surround her until an old woman (played by Olwen Fouéré) offers shelter — albeit a shelter that traps her and her new hatchmates as the prize of mysterious beings who lurk outside their walls each night. Barbarian's Georgina Campbell and newcomer Oliver Finnegan round out the film's primary foursome.

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Screen Rant attended Warner Bros.' Summer of Shyamalan event on April 16, where the director presented 10 minutes worth of footage as well as a first look at The Watchers trailer. During the ensuing Q&A session, Shyamalan discussed the casting and rehearsal process for her directorial debut, giving Campbell a special shoutout (specifically "wonderful" and "amazing") due to how perfectly she fit into the world of the horror movie.

Ishana Night Shyamalan Breaks Down The Casting Process For The Watchers

During The Watchers Q&A, Shyamalan explained how the process of finding the right actors felt like "alchemy," mixing together the right vibes from various performers to bring into a perfect mix that allowed the movie to thrive.

Ishana Night Shyamalan: It was very much me imagining what the four vibes of these people were like and what they would be like together. The continual lesson that I learned during the filmmaking process is that there's just a certain alchemy that happens, and if you're lucky enough to catch it, you do. I felt that way with this cast; that all the movements and stuff just led to this group being together. They have such an electric energy when they're all together. It's really, really cool. It was so fun. It felt like theater to do it.

Despite the casting and initial read-through taking place over Zoom, Shyamalan had no trouble discerning which actors were the right fit for her project. Furthermore, the initial distance between performers acted as a parallel to the script itself, which has Fanning's character meet them while feeling totally isolated and presents the newcomers as total strangers to both Mina and the audience.

Ishana Night Shyamalan: They were all cast separately. Some of them met on the read-through, which was over Zoom, and then they just kind of jumped in together. It's wonderful. though, because it's very much about Mina meeting these other characters. There was this blissful thing where they were all getting to know each other, and then they sort of fused by the end of the shoot. It was wonderful.

I was able to take a look at a lot of these actors' work and make a jump from there. It's very much about a vibe that I feel, and I think that's kind of what drew me to these four people. They all have a very, very singular, ethereal, compelling energy about them. You'll see in the movie, they all have very specific worlds that they live in. It ended up working out quite nicely.

Rehearsal Was A Cornerstone Of The Watchers' Cast Chemistry
Mina (Dakota Fanning) and Ciara (Georgina Campbell) walk deep into the forest in The WatchersImage via Warner Bros
Shyamalan's previous work on Servant helped her better understand how to communicate with her cast, but it also imprinted on her the importance of having rehearsal time.

Ishana Night Shyamalan: All actors that I've worked with up until this point have very different communication styles and they need different things from you. Some of them don't want you to say too much, and some of them want a very specific thing. But I love that piece of the process where you basically get to know them and get to know what they need.

I think for me as a young person, just figuring out how to communicate in these different ways and give to them in the ways that they need it is a very cool psychological discovery as you go through.

Despite The Watchers' relatively quick filming schedule, the director still set aside time to understand the scenes and relationships through practice.

Ishana Night Shyamalan: We had a little bit of rehearsal time before, which was lovely. And we did have a lot of chats about the intention of the scenes, and the movement of their relationships with each other. But it was a quick process. It felt like a very quick shoot putting together the movie, so it was cool in that way. We got to figure it out together and play as a group.