‘The Watchers’ Teaser: Dakota Fanning Is Trapped in the Woods for Ishana Night Shyamalan’s Directorial Debut

Brian Welk and Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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What are The Watchers doing just on the other side of the window? They’re applauding.

In the first teaser trailer for twisty thriller “The Watchers” — the directorial debut from Ishana Night Shyamalan, M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter — Dakota Fanning plays a woman lost in the Irish woods who suddenly finds herself trapped alongside three other strangers. Each evening, the foursome must outrun flesh-eating creatures.

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

“Barbarian” breakout star Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere round out the cast.

“The Watchers” is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, and Nimitt Mankad. The executive producers are Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.

The film is written and directed by first time feature director Ishana Night Shyamalan; she adapted the screenplay from A. M. Shine’s novel of the same name. Ishana Night Shyamalan previously directed three episodes of father M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ series “Servant.” She also directed second unit on his films “Old” and “Knock at the Cabin.”

Production on “The Watchers” wrapped in September 2023 thanks to its ability to continue production amid the strike on a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

Watch the trailer here:

At the 2024 SAG Awards, Josh Hartnett (“Oppenheimer”) teased M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming film “Trap,” also set at Warner Bros. (August 2024). The actor told IndieWire that the horror movie is “very bizarre, very dark, and it’s wild.”

Hartnett said of working M. Night Shyamalan, “It’s a pivot. But I try to make all of my roles pivots. If you’re playing the same thing again and again, it gets boring to the audience. Working with M. Night was one of the best experiences of my career. I think he’s a true Artist in the capitol-A sense of the word. And I think people are gonna be really surprised and excited about the movie we make.”

M. Night Shyamalan has a multi-year first-look deal at Warner Bros. Discovery for directing and producing. The deal was signed in February 2023.

“The Watchers” premieres June 7 in theaters from Warner Bros. Check out the poster below.

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