Fear Street – Picture: Chernin Entertainment
After the great success of its Fear Street trilogy in 2021, Netflix has reportedly greenlit more of the same franchise that will get into production in 2023. Based on R.L. Stine’s long-running book series, Fear Street 4 should grace our screens, but Netflix has yet to confirm the project officially.
In the summer of 2021, Netflix released three Fear Street entries over the course of three weeks. All were directed by Leigh Janiak and told the story of teenagers working to break a curse inflicted on their town over hundreds of years.
Fear Street 4 would be the first entry in the franchise to be fully produced by Netflix, as the first trilogy was originally filmed with the intent of 20 Century Studios distributing. Then months after wrapping production on all three films, Netflix acquired the distribution rights.
Perhaps not completely coincidentally, the company behind Fear Street, Chernin Entertainment, ended their deal with 20th Century and made a first-look deal with Netflix instead.
Here’s everything we know about Netflix’s Fear Street 4:
Timeline of Fear Street 4 So Far
As noted above, Netflix has yet to officially confirm the existence of a fourth entry so let’s dig into the timeline of what’s been said so far.
Following the release of the Fear Street Trilogy, director Leigh Janiak spoke about the future to ComicBook.com, suggesting, “I’d really like to explore the Milk Man, ’50s-era slasher that feels a little bit like Night of the Hunter,” adding, “That, to me, would be a fun, cool thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a real ’50s slasher movie, so I’d definitely be really interested in that.”
Then in July 2022, Bloody Disgusting confirmed a report from Y! that further movie entries were in “deep development”.
Finally, in December 2022, Jeff Sneider at Above the Line reported the director news about a new director being attached, adding they’ve “exclusively learned that Okuno has closed a deal to direct the next entry in the streamer’s Fear Street franchise.”
Okuno refers to renowned horror movie director Chloe Okuno, who helmed such projects as Watcher, V/H/S/94, Let the Right One In, and more.
Director Chloe Okuno
What’s on Netflix did request comment on Fear Street 4 in 2022, but Netflix did not respond.
What’s the plot of Fear Street 4?
Almost nothing is currently known about the next chapter of Netflix’s Fear Street franchise aside from the fact that it will be inspired by R. L. Stine’s long-running series of books.
The original film trilogy didn’t adapt any one particular book or storyline.
Instead, it took several things from several books and made its own story with them. If the originals are anything to go by, the next chapter will likely follow the same course, so it would be rather futile to try and guess which books they will adapt.
Who is cast in Fear Street 4?
The cast for Netflix’s Fear Street 4 is currently unknown. We wouldn’t expect many role reprisals from the original trilogy’s cast if any. After all, this is likely a new chapter in the franchise.
What’s the production status of Fear Street 4?
Netflix’s Fear Street 4 is currently in pre-production, as far as we know.
According to some production sources, filming is planned to begin in early 2023, but given we don’t even know if the project has been fully greenlit, we don’t know the exact dates yet.
What’s the Netflix release date for Fear Street 4?
Netflix hasn’t announced a release date for Fear Street 4, but considering its early stage of development and how long filming usually must take, we would probably expect it to drop on the streamer sometime in 2024.