Two actors who have spent a lot of time in Georgia are headed back. The Family Disappears, a comedy with thriller undertones starring David Harbour and John Cena, begins production in metro Atlanta in November 2026. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing information provided to crew union IATSE Local 479, the shoot will run 23 shooting days on location through early December — a quick, tight schedule for a feature, and one that suggests this is a contained story rather than a sprawling one.
The project was first announced by Deadline on October 7, and it’s being produced by Fifth Season, the studio behind Apple TV’s Severance — and, closer to home, the Hulu pilot Southern Bastards that filmed in Atlanta earlier this year.
What the Film Is About
The setup is simple and a little unnerving: an overworked dad comes home from a work trip to find that his family has disappeared — and a mysterious stranger has bought his house and moved in. That’s all Fifth Season has said, and notably, the studio hasn’t revealed which actor plays the father and which plays the interloper. Given the two men involved, either combination is funny to imagine.
Deadline compared the tone to Friendship — the Tim Robinson cringe comedy from the same producing team — and to HBO’s DTF St. Louis, the darkly comic suburban-dysfunction series that just won Harbour an Emmy. Think less broad buddy comedy and more something that makes you laugh while feeling slightly ill at ease.
The Cast
David Harbour is, for most Georgia readers, practically a local. He spent the better part of a decade filming Stranger Things around Atlanta and Jackson, and parts of Marvel’s Black Widow shot at Trilith as well. He’s coming off the Stranger Things finale and that Emmy win for DTF St. Louis — his second Emmy — and has an absurdly busy slate ahead, including Violent Night 2, Avengers: Doomsday, and John Rambo.
John Cena also knows Atlanta well. He filmed The Suicide Squad here, then came back for both seasons of its HBO Max spinoff Peacemaker. Now fully retired from the ring after a 17-championship WWE career, Cena has been on a roll — he earned his first Emmy nomination this year as an executive producer of Amazon’s Heads of State, and was most recently seen in Coyote vs. Acme and Little Brother.
No additional cast has been announced yet. With a premise built around a missing family, expect a wife and kids to be cast soon — and probably a few neighbors who aren’t sure which guy to believe.
The Creative Team
Jonatan Etzler directs. The Swedish filmmaker broke out internationally this year with Bad Apples, the dark comedy-thriller starring Saoirse Ronan as a teacher pushed to extremes by a problem student. That film’s blend of comedy and genuine menace is a pretty good preview of what he’s likely to bring here.
The screenplay is an original by Brendan O’Hare, a comedy writer known for the surreal short-form series Eggland. Nick Weidenfeld of Friends Night and Alexis Garcia of CAT5 produce — the same team behind Friendship, which is a strong signal about the kind of humor to expect.
The Georgia Connection
Production begins in November and runs 23 shooting days on location through early December. No studio base has been named, and since the AJC reports the shoot is entirely on location, there may not be one — which means a suburban Atlanta neighborhood is about to spend three weeks doubling as the house at the center of the story. If you see a crew setting up on a residential street in the metro area in the next few weeks, there’s a decent chance this is it.
No production code name has surfaced yet. We’ll update this post as soon as one does.
Want to Be a Background Extra?
Extras Casting Atlanta (ECA) is handling background for The Family Disappears. ECA is one of the busiest background shops in the state — longtime readers will recognize them from projects like Ozark, The Walking Dead, and dozens of features — and they’re known for posting calls quickly, often for “tomorrow,” so you’ll want to follow their Facebook page closely over the next month.
ECA usually doesn’t name the project in their posts, so watch for calls referencing a feature film in the Atlanta area from the second week of November through early December. The first call for this production is already out: ECA is looking for kids ages 9–11 with martial arts experience and their own gi, for filming in Atlanta during the second week of November, when production begins. Given the premise, expect additional calls for neighbors, moving crews, and office or travel scenes.
To submit, ECA typically asks for a recent photo and full contact info emailed to ECAcasting@gmail.com with the role or date in the subject line — check each post for the exact subject line they want.
No distributor or release date has been announced. We’ll keep you posted.
