Ishana Shyamalan Interview: Finding Her Own Voice After Working on Her Dad’s Films

The Watchers may mark Ishana Shyamalan’s feature directorial debut, but she’s got far more experience than most at her age because she’s been surrounded by film her entire life. Ishana Shyamalan is M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, and grew up on his sets. Then, beginning at 19, she wrote on the Apple TV series Servant, and went on to direct six episodes of the show. On top of that, she directed second unit on both Old and Knock at the Cabin. All wonderful opportunities, but all projects where a top priority was fulfilling a pre-established vision. That wasn’t the case on The Watchers, however. Based on the A.M. Shine novel of the same name, The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning as Mina. While in the midst of a lengthy drive through the forest in western Ireland, Mina gets stranded. While she manages to find shelter with three strangers, it’s far from a safe situation. The four must be in “the coop” by nightfall, or else. Once inside, they can’t see out into the forest, but something can see it — mysterious