Lily James to Star in 'Seasons' From 'Companion' Director Drew Hancock
Drew Hancock is sticking with horror. Fresh off the success of New Line's Companion, the writer-director has set his next project — and it's a big one. Lily James is attached to star in Seasons, a horror thriller for Amazon MGM Studios that began life as one of the most talked-about short stories on the internet.
Here's everything we know so far.
What Is 'Seasons' About?
Based on the viral Reddit short story "My Wife and I Bought a Ranch" by Matt and Harrison Query, Seasons follows a married couple who purchase their dream ranch, only to discover the land is alive with ancient spirits. Survival means submitting to increasingly disturbing rituals with each turn of the season.
The premise has drawn comparisons to Ari Aster's Midsommar and Hereditary — slow-burn horror rooted in folk traditions and rural isolation — but with a distinctly modern internet-era origin story.
From Reddit to the Big Screen
The original story first appeared on the r/nosleep subreddit in six gripping installments, quickly going viral for its chilling premise and vivid, grounded prose. The Query brothers' tale was so compelling it landed a seven-figure publishing deal before being optioned for film. Scott Glassgold's 12:01 Films — a horror banner that was one of the first to specialize in mining Reddit for movie inspiration — brought the project to Hancock, who wrote the adaptation.
It's the latest in a growing trend of Reddit-sourced horror hitting theaters, proving that the horror community's most imaginative voices are being discovered not in Hollywood pitch meetings, but in comment threads and late-night writing sessions.
Who's Making It
The creative team behind Seasons reads like a who's who of modern horror production:
Atomic Monster — James Wan and Michael Clear's banner — is producing, alongside 21 Laps (Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen), the powerhouse behind Stranger Things and Night at the Museum. This marks the third collaboration between the two companies, following their recent run producing A24's Backrooms — which became the studio's highest-grossing worldwide release.
It's an impressive team-up that signals Amazon MGM sees real potential in Hancock's follow-up.
Lily James Leads
James, known for Pam & Tommy, Baby Driver, Cinderella, and Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again, is set to play the wife. She's been on an extraordinary run lately, starring in 20th/Hulu's Swiped (where she played Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd) and David Mackenzie's thriller Relay opposite Riz Ahmed.
Her upcoming slate is equally stacked: the submarine actioner Subversion (also at Amazon MGM), the psychological drama Harmonia, Takashi Miike's Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo for NEON, and the Cliffhanger reboot which she also produces.
Adding a performer of James's range to a genre piece like this suggests Seasons aims for more than just scares — expect real dramatic weight alongside the horror.
What This Means for Drew Hancock
Hancock's debut Companion earned strong reviews for its smart blend of sci-fi and horror, and a follow-up of this scale — with a major studio, A-list talent, and multiple top-tier production banners — is a significant vote of confidence. Moving from New Line to Amazon MGM, Hancock is joining the ranks of genre directors being entrusted with bigger canvases after proving their instincts on smaller films.
For horror fans, Seasons represents everything exciting about the genre right now: fresh talent rising through unconventional paths, major studios betting big on original horror, and the internet's wildest stories finally getting the screen time they deserve.
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