Rebecca Thomas

The Steven Spielberg-produced Intelligent Life has had a bit of a bumpy start getting out the gate — it was previously set to be directed by Ava DuVernay with Lupita Nyong’o starring, but both of them jumped ship when DuVernay decided to focus on her Wrinkle in Time adaptation. But now it looks like the project is back on track after a rewrite from Jay Roach and a new hire: Stranger Things director Rebecca Thomas.

Rebecca Thomas has already directed one feature, the 2012 oddball drama Electrick Children. That account of one girl’s imagined immaculate conception via cassette tape (it’s a weird movie) drew positive enough reviews, but failed to make enough of an impact to propel Thomas into the next professional echelon. She regrouped by taking a gig directing a TV show for Netflix, under the impression that the work would be a fine holdover while she plotted her next film — little did she know, Stranger Things would blossom into a full-blown phenomenon and blow open the gates to Hollywood for the filmmaker.

It wasn’t long ago we learned that Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers had called on producer Shawn Levy to fulfill a similar directorial obligation as the first year, though the full roster remained unclear. Now, we’ve learned Finding Dory and Nemo director Andrew Stanton will direct several episodes, as will another newcomer to the series.

Earlier last week it was reported that Captain Marvel is currently courting three possible directors to helm Marvel's first standalone superheroine origin film. Now it appears another potential name has been added to the list: Rebecca Thomas. Jeff Sneider of Mashable broke the news that Thomas was a "mystery contender" today on his Twitter.

Many male directors have made the huge leap between impressive indie feature debuts to mega blockbusters, but it’s rare to see a woman director handed the keys to a big budget studio film after making her indie directing debut. As more people in Hollywood have begun speaking out about the lack of women directing major films, it’s great to see that the tide is turning with at least one project: Universal’s live-action version of The Little Mermaid, which may have just found its (female) replacement for Sofia Coppola.