Frank Darabont ends retirement for Netflix's 'Stranger Things 5'

He directed "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption." He spent the last eleven years enjoying a peaceful retirement, but he decided to return because he was enticed by a Netflix production. No wonder it's a global hit on this platform.

Frank Darabont, a director known for productions such as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile", is returning to work behind the camera after an eleven-year break. His return is thanks to the beloved Netflix series "Stranger Things". "What really dragged me out of retirement was that my wife and I really love this show," he says bluntly.

"Our content now is so filled with horrible people doing horrible things for greedy reasons but Stranger Things has so much heart. That positivity is something I really responded to," comments the legendary director.

The last time Darabont sat in the director's chair was in 2013, working on the series "Mob City". His latest feature film was an adaptation of the horror "The Mist" from 2007, based on the prose of Stephen King. He also directed several episodes of "The Walking Dead", and of course, two great cinema classics - "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption".

When asked whether his involvement in "Stranger Things 5" signifies his full-time return to directing, Darabont responded cautiously:

"Who knows? I haven’t missed the business but I have missed being on set with creative people … It may well be one and done, but we’ve still got time."

The fifth season of "Stranger Things" is currently being filmed in Atlanta, and its premiere on Netflix is planned for 2025. It is worth noting that this will be the series' final season. As Shawn Levy, the executive producer and director of the series, said in an interview last year for "Total Film" magazine, the scale of the new season will exceed what was seen in the previous one. "'Stranger Things 5' is as big as any of the biggest movies that we see," stated Levy.

David Harbour, who has played Hopper since the first season, added in the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast that he already knows the end of the story and that it is moving.

"I know where we net out, and it’s very, very moving. That is the term I will use," revealed the actor.

"It’s a hell of an undertaking, too. I mean, the set pieces and the things in the scripts that we saw are bigger than anything we’ve done in the past," he added.