The streamer that turned “Stranger Things” into a cornerstone franchise is getting back into business with one of the filmmakers who helped make it a phenomenon. Netflix has landed “Somewhere Out There,” an original sci-fi spec script from Max Taxe, with Shawn Levy attached to the project.
The deal came after a competitive bidding war, which makes sense given the current premium on original genre material with a filmmaker who can steer spectacle toward something broadly accessible.
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Plot details are being kept under wraps for now, but the project keeps Levy in a lane he knows well: emotionally driven sci-fi with a commercial hook. That’s been part of his Netflix identity for years, from his work as executive producer and director on “Stranger Things” to “The Adam Project,” the Ryan Reynolds-led time-travel movie that became one of the streamer’s bigger original-film swings. Levy also directed Netflix’s “All the Light We Cannot See,” and his 21 Laps banner has remained one of the company’s steadier production partners.
Taxe, meanwhile, wrote “Moonshot,” the 2022 HBO Max sci-fi romantic comedy starring Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse. That film used a space-colonization backdrop for a relationship story, and while there’s no indication “Somewhere Out There” shares any specific DNA with it, the pairing suggests Netflix may be looking for original sci-fi that has room for both scale and feeling, not just franchise machinery.
Levy is also deep in blockbuster territory elsewhere. He directed “Deadpool & Wolverine,” one of Marvel’s biggest recent hits, and is next set to helm “Star Wars: Starfighter,” the Ryan Gosling-led Lucasfilm film set for May 28, 2027. That makes “Somewhere Out There” another reminder that Levy is now one of the few filmmakers moving comfortably between streaming giants, theatrical IP, and original genre concepts.
For Netflix, the pickup also fits a clear priority: keep feeding the sci-fi audience that made “Stranger Things” a cultural force, but find new worlds beyond Hawkins. Whether “Somewhere Out There” becomes a theatrical-sized streaming event or something stranger, smaller, and more intimate remains to be seen. For now, Netflix has the script, Levy has another sci-fi sandbox, and Taxe has a new original genre project with serious muscle behind it. [Deadline]
