M. Night Shyamalan Is Working On His First Movie Post-Glass

Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Bruce Willis in Glass
(Image credit: (Universal))

After becoming an outcast from Hollywood’s good graces for almost a decade, M. Night Shyamalan has recently earned himself a successful comeback by continuing the story he started in 2000’s Unbreakable with Split and Glass. With his unexpected trilogy spanning 18 years now concluded, Shyamalan is starting fresh with a brand new project.

The Sixth Sense writer/director took to Twitter to tease this about the upcoming movie:

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Exciting! The filmmaker has explored tons of different themes throughout his career and it looks like he’s itching to go back to tackling sci-fi this time around. His recent success with the Unbreakable trilogy has leaned toward being psychological thrillers, with commentary on comic book culture. He has made movies that lean in the science fiction genre before such as with Signs and After Earth - though these titles were met with different responses from audiences.

Whatever it may be, will the film continue Shyamalan’s winning streak? Only time will tell. The filmmaker is in the most early stages of developing his next project, working right now on the outline. So it will be years before we see what he has in store, and he’ll have to line up all the logistical ducks in a row that comes with movie-making as well.

Following his public movie failures in The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth, M. Night Shyamalan started financing his movies himself. He took out a $5 million loan on his Pennsylvania estate to fund the 2015 film The Visit before it made $100 million worldwide, and $9 million for Split before it racked up an impressive $278 million worldwide. He even financed Glass, which cost $20 million to develop and was an early 2019 success with a $246 million haul worldwide.

One Glass lead is already ready to sign up for Shyamalan’s next project. Take a look:

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Sarah Paulson is in if he needs her! The actress who played Dr. Ellie Staple in the filmmaker’s most recent movie is smart to put her name in while he’s outlining the script too! There’s a better chance he’ll think of her as he develops the movie from the ground up.

Glass suffered poor reviews from most critics that led it to receive a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes and Shyamalan shedding some tears over that. Fans of the writer/director liked it a lot more and went out to see it despite the reviews, contributing to the movie’s success.

In addition to this new movie he’s just getting started on, M. Night Shyamalan has a television series with Apple’s upcoming streaming service in the works called Servant. It’s said to be a psychological thriller about parents who hire a young nanny to take care of their newborn but “things are not quite as they seem”. Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Toby Kebbell will play the couple. Game of Thrones’ Nell Tiger Free, the nanny and Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint will also star.

Are you excited to see M. Night Shyamalan take on another science fiction movie? Let us know in the comments below!

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.