John Carpenter Secretly Returned to Directing for New TV Series

Horror fans have been wanting John Carpenter to return to directing ever since he delivered his last feature film, The Ward, back in 2010, with the filmmaker revealing at Texas Frightmare that he helmed the new TV series John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams from the comfort of his own home. Outside of the fact that the project exists, there are no other details about the series, which includes whether or not it will find an official home anywhere, but knowing that he worked on the project at all is enough to excite audiences. Back in 2017, Carpenter helmed a music video for the theme song to his 1983 film Christine.

“I just finished directing, remotely, a TV series called Suburban Screams — John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams,” Carpenter shared during a Q&A at the event, as shared on YouTube by user Robert Sommerfield. “You guys have gotta watch it. It was shot in Prague and I sat on my couch and directed it. It was awesome.”

During nearly every interview or public appearance, Carpenter is inevitably asked about if he would be making a new movie, with his reaction typically being that such an endeavor is too much hard work, which is what makes this reveal such a surprise for longtime fans. In more recent years, Carpenter has been focusing on creating music, typically with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, which includes the score for films like Firestarter and the recent Halloween trilogy, as well as the original albums Lost Themes I-III.

The closest we’ve come to hearing about Carpenter directing again was when an adaptation of his comic book franchise John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night was in the works. Reports of the project being turned into a TV series go back to 2019, with the stories set to be adapted at SYFY and would potentially have allowed Carpenter to direct.

Back in 2022, Carpenter offered an update on that project, though kept details of it under wraps.

“There’s progress that’s always being held up by COVID. We’re trying to get it finalized,” Carpenter confirmed with ComicBook.com when asked about the status of the series. “It has a home. I won’t tell you about it right now. I’ll tell you about it when it finally comes to fruition.”  

In this regard, we can’t help but wonder if the original project was merely reimagined as Suburban Screams or if the filmmaker lent his creative influence to an entirely new project. Given that progress was made on Tales for a Halloween Night but that the project was then abandoned, we’re cautiously optimistic that Suburban Scream gets a release.

Stay tuned for details on John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams.

Are you excited about the project? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!