Dan Trachtenberghas quietly been making waves as a director of promise in the last few years with acclaimed work on the likes of10 Cloverfield Laneand last year’s Emmy Award-nominatedPrey, thePredatorprequel set in the Northern Great Plains in 1719. Speaking withCollider’sEmily Bernardto promote the upcoming release ofPreyon 4K UHD and DVD, she took the opportunity to ask the director about another upcoming project.
Admitting that the chances of him being able to talk too openly were slim, she took her shot to question Trachtenberg about his role as director for an episode of thefinal season ofStranger Things. Trachtenberg was announced as a director for the Netflix phenomenon earlier this year during their TUDUM fan fest.
The series has had strong directors at the helm of various episodes throughout the series includingShawn Levy, and showrunner-writer duoMattandRoss Duffer. Trachtenberg will be joining the team to direct a yet-to-be-disclosed episode in the final season, and has been telling Collider about the process of putting it all together:
“I was prepping it before the strike and doing previews for sequences and stuff,” he said. “It’sawesome! I’m doing it because I love that show so much. I think every season has gotten better and better and better, and this is the final one, and the Duffers are geniuses and good, really good dudes. And this episode, that’s just “an episode” of Season 5, has several awesome set pieces in it and it’s gonna be huge, man. It’s a big season, and, so far, so cool.”
Similar Sensibilities to the Duffer Bros.
Bernard noted to Trachtenberg that his style of filmmaking was perfectly suited to the design ofStranger Things, a plug-and-play for the iconography and feel of the show and the emotions it captures, to which the director concurred.
Yeah, me and the Duffers have very similar sensibilities, raised around the same time and on the same movies, and this is genre stuff that I haven’t totally gotten to play in yet and I don’t know if I would, so, I’m glad I can just grab on. “I want to ride, too!”
The final season following the world-breaking Season 4 finale presents a wealth of narrative intricacies to explore. When we last glimpsed Hawkins, it was in a state of turmoil, wrought by the malevolent influence of the Upside Down. Hopper and Joyce, in a heartwarming reunion, managed to locate the kids during those climactic moments. The forthcoming season promises to elegantly tie up all the narrative loose ends, while hopefully offering fans an emotionally charged experience,as has been emphasised by Shawn Levy.
One of the show’s stars,Noah Schnapp, has alluded to a narrative developmentwherein the story comes full circle back to where the show began with his character, Will Byers. This trajectory will bring Will into the forefront, owing to his profound connection with the enigmatic dark realm and the formidable Demogorgons, working in tandem with the vile Vecna.
Stranger Things 5is still in pre-production, but Collider will have updates on the return to Hawkins every step of the way.
