Silas Howard Discusses Darby and the Dead’s “Dream Team,” Storm Reid’s Departure (Exclusive)

Hulu sees dead people. The streaming service premiered Darby and the Dead earlier this month, a supernatural teen comedy that assembles some of the most experienced young actors in Hollywood. Riele Downs (Henry Danger), Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Asher Angel (Shazam!), Chosen Jacobs (It) and more were brought together to bring this Silas Howard-directed picture to life.

Speaking to ComicBook.com’s Liam Crowley, Howard described his cast as a “dream team.”

“I wanted the casting to be as close to the age of the movie as high school. But that all of these actors have worked for so long and they’re all so nice and they are so committed,” Howard said. “I like to overthink everything and they went on that ride with me. Then just talent, I mean they’ve been doing their thing for a while, it shows and so that made my job a lot easier.”

Darby and the Dead hit a road bump early in its development, as previous leading woman Storm Reid was forced to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Regardless of the shake-up, Howard emphasized that Downs had a “pretty seamless” transition into the titular character’s shoes.

“It was pretty seamless. We had covid variant breaking out, and so that also made it tricky,” Howard continued. “I felt like this movie is a movie that wanted to be made because there were so many places that it could have fallen apart, as many movies do. Riele was just the perfect person, and we found her in five days. I think it was just amazing, and the studio really was supportive of this casting. By her own admission, she is Darby in certain ways.”

The switch from Reid to Downs was not the only major change the film went through, as it was once titled Darby Wants You to Know.

“I think [Darby and the Dead] just fit the movie better,” Howard said regarding the title changed. “It just was a little more direct and it kind of sounds like a punk band. I think the movie has a punk attitude to it.”

While nothing is official, Darby and the Dead ends in a way that leaves room for a sequel.

“I would just love to see them interact more,” Howard said concerning new character pairings in a potential follow-up. “Chosen [Jacobs] would like to go over to Darby’s house for dinner and meet Darby’s dad. The mean girlfriends have never really interacted with James (Asher Angel). There’s just these different worlds that would unfold in different dynamics we didn’t get to see.”

For now, Howard hopes that Darby and the Dead helps bring people together.

“I think one of the main things that we talked about when making the film is just this idea of people not being what we think they are, when we are up close and meeting each other,” Howard said. “Looking at the judgment of our lead character who is actually on the outside of things and realizing that she’s just afraid. I think just flipping the ideas of what popularity means and what different cliques mean. Looking at our difficulties are potentially ways that we can connect with each other as opposed to separate us.”

Darby and the Dead is currently streaming on Hulu.