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M. Night Shyamalan announces 'Magic 8 Ball' series and releases a horror-romance novel with Nicholas Sparks

Earl Hopkins, The Philadelphia Inquirer on

Published in Books News

PHILADELPHIA — Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan is dipping his hands into the world of literature and is revisiting the small screen.

On Monday, Variety reported that the Shyamalan will direct "Magic 8 Ball," a live-action series based on the popular Mattel fortune-telling toy.

“Been working on this for a couple years … Who’s in?,” Shyamalan wrote in an Instagram post featuring the screenplay for the pilot episode, with a Magic 8 Ball resting on top.

Shyamalan will serve as co-creator with Brad Falchuk, co-creator of hit TV shows such as "Glee" and "American Horror Story." Falchuk will also be writing the forthcoming TV series, which marks Shyamalan’s return to television since the conclusion of "Servant," the Apple TV+ series directed by him, that ended in March 2023 after four seasons.

No details on the series’ have been announced.

On Tuesday, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker from Lower Merion also released "Remain," the book he co-wrote with famed novelist Nicholas Sparks of "The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember" fame.

 

The book melds Shyamalan‘s knack for supernatural horror and Sparks’ penchant for romance. While "Remain" is Sparks and Shyamalan‘s first collaboration, it isn’t the first time the two have attempted to work with one another.

In an interview with Variety last month, Sparks revealed that Shyamalan was tapped to write the script for "The Notebook." But “he was busy writing this movie, 'The Sixth Sense.' I don’t know if you’ve heard of that movie. I wonder how that eventually did?,” Sparks said jokingly.

While the 2004 film was eventually adapted by screenwriters Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, Sparks and Shyamalan closely followed each other’s careers in the years that followed. And after a series of pitches between the two creatives, they settled on a genre-blending concept for Sparks’ 25th novel.

Released by Penguin Random House, the book follows New York architect Tate Donovan, who arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, while hoping to make a fresh start, per the publisher’s description.

While Shyamalan and Sparks conceived the idea together, Sparks wrote the novel, and Shyamalan wrote the screenplay for a horror-romance, which is currently set for a fall 2026 release. The film will Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor.


©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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