Cabinet of Curiosities may not have been officially renewed by Netflix for season 2, but series creator Guillermo del Toro has plenty of directors in mind that he'd like to work with on a second installment of the horror anthology.
"I have a list," he told IndieWire. "For example, we tried to get Jayro Bustamente before and he couldn’t because of COVID. When you think about Mexican filmmakers, there’s Isaa Lopez. She was going to direct one of the episodes when she got True Detective and she couldn’t do it. Boots Riley wrote and was going to direct one episode and he got his series greenlit. I could go and spoil the entire second season for you, but I’m not going to do that."
He continued: "Larry Fessenden is one hundred percent at the very, very top of my list for a second season. Larry is one of those names that back in the days of the Spirit Awards I fought for him to be nominated with Habit, which I think is phenomenal. I’ve been in touch with him since then. We were very close to remaking The Orphanage."
Season 1's directors included The Babadook helmer Jennifer Kent and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Armipour. Del Toro has yet to direct any episodes himself, but he did co-write one installment, while two others were based on currently unpublished short stories he has written.
Del Toro's decision to make an anthology series was partly influenced by his dedication to mentoring and supporting a new generation of horror filmmakers. He explained: "With an anthology, you can support eight filmmakers in one fell swoop. We created an arena where we basically said, look, you have full control. Even if you disagree with me, you can disagree with me, but I’m going to give you every possible support so you can create with one hour in ideal conditions. I enjoy that role because some of the filmmakers had less than optimal experiences; others were obscure filmmakers to some degree. Look, I’m 58 and I have a 30-year career. It’s a miracle that you can last three decades as a storyteller. If I can do something to usher in a variation of the genre, I like it. It was absolute madness to make this series."
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities season 1 is available to stream on Netflix now. If you're already up to date, check out our picks of the other best Netflix shows that you can watch right now.
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