Is ‘The Watchers’ an M. Night Shyamalan film or did someone else direct it?

Prolific director M. Night Shyamalan is actively marketing their upcoming thriller Trap, but he is also producing another thriller this summer, The Watchers. Some fans might be unsure whether M. Night Shyamalan is also directing The Watchers.

After all, M. Night Shyamalan’s name is attached to both films, and it regularly appears in marketing. Trap is scheduled to release on Aug. 9, 2024, while The Watchers will premiere earlier, on June 14, 2024. After a warmer response to 2023’s Knock at the Cabin, and a promising trailer for Trap, even casual moviegoers are following M. Night Shyamalan more closely right now.

Warner Bros. Pictures first released a teaser trailer for The Watchers last February, wisely avoiding spoilers to emphasize mystery. The film is generating some decent buzz thanks to its stylish imagery and the notable cast and crew, including producer M. Night Shyamalan.

Did M. Night Shyamalan direct The Watchers?

Ishana Night Shyamalan is the director of The Watchers, and the daughter of longtime director M. Night Shyamalan.

Warner Bros. Pictures released another new trailer for The Watchers on April 22, 2024. The trailer confirms that Ishana Shyamalan both directed The Watchers and wrote it for the screen. However, M. Night Shyamalan is still a producer on the film. In fact, the new trailer cleverly uses M. Night Shyamalan’s name as a segue into Ishana’s full name.

The Watchers will also be Ishana Night Shyamalan’s big screen directorial debut. Ishana Shyamalan previously wrote and directed some episodes of Servant, which M. Night Shyamalan executive produced. This may have further caused some confusion ahead of The Watchers. Servant delivered a standout fourth season in 2023, which also concluded the series.

In a recent report by Variety, M. Night Shyamalan explained that the timing was unintentional for dual Shyamalan releases arriving this year.

What is The Watchers movie about?

Warner Bros. Pictures’ latest trailer for The Watchers teases a psychological, supernatural thriller from director Ishana Shyamalan. The moody footage concludes by mentioning the source material, a novel of the same name by A.M. Shine.

The story centers on Mina, a 28-year-old artist who gets stranded in a forest in Ireland. She quickly becomes trapped in a bunker with strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures that you cannot see. The novel was only just published in 2022 and features a tense, Gothic tone.

Meanwhile, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is totally unrelated, though it shares a genre. Trailers depict Trap as a single-location thriller about police trying to catch a killer at a packed pop concert.