Edgar Wright may be moving on to The Night Stalker with Johnny Depp

May 28th 2014, 8:21am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Following last weeks news that SHAUN OF THE DEAD and THE WORLD'S END director Edgar Wright has departed Marvel's ANT-MAN project, that means the director is free to move on to a new project. Now Deadline is speculating that his next film may be the long-in-development adaptation of THE NIGHT STALKER, a film that has been brewing at Disney with Johnny Depp involved to star and produce under his Infinitum Nihil banner for several years.

Following two TV movies (1972′s THE NIGHT STALKER and 1973′s THE NIGHT STRANGLER), "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" aired on ABC for a single season in 1974 1975. Starring the late character actor Darren McGavin, the show followed newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak as he investigated mysterious crimes which often involved supernatural elements like vampires, zombies, werewolves, and even a delightfully-70s version of a murderous artificial intelligence.

We first learned that Edgar Wright was developing a film version a few years ago, and while Depp is still thought to be involved, the last update had Wright conceding that “I think that’s still a ways off, it’s not even been written yet but yeah, it’s happening.” According to Deadline, though, the project now has a solid script by HIGH FIDELITY screenwriter D.V. DeVincentis, and with Wright now off of ANT-MAN we could be closer than ever to seeing THE NIGHT STALKER happen.

However, it's not clear how soon this project might come together because Depp is currently busy starring in the Whitey Bulger biopic BLACK MASS, and there's a fifth PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie in development. It's unlikely that a new star will be sought to get the project moving sooner since Wright was developing the film specifically for Depp to lead, but we'll have to wait and see how things play out. There’s little doubt that THE NIGHT STALKER is firmly in both Wright and Depp’s wheelhouse, but right now it’s really anyone’s guess if this is really Wright’s next project. We'll keep you posted.