Guillermo Del Toro is heading to Netflix to present a new anthology of horror stories

Fresh from The Shape of Water, the Oscar-winning Director is heading to Netflix for a collection of personally curated stories, which promise to be “both equally sophisticated and horrific”. The project reunites del Toro and Netflix, after three seasons of his animated series Trollhunters, as their turn their hand to live-action TV.

The filmmaker will be creator and executive producer on the series, and will write and direct certain episodes. In addition, he will hand pick a team of the genre’s best writers and exciting new filmmakers to bring the selection of stories to life.

The programme also reunites del Toro with The Shape of Water producer J. Miles Dale, who serves as executive producer, along with Gary Ungar (Exile Entertainment).

The series marks Netflix’s first original horror anthology series, at a time when compendium shows – particularly in the genre arena – are enjoying something of a revival, from Black Mirror and Inside No. 9 to Amazon’s Electric Dreams and Lore.

Del Toro, of course, is no stranger to the genre, with his previous films alternating between Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces, such as The Devil’s Backbone (2001), and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and American studio movies, such as vampire superhero actioner Blade II (2002), comic book blockbuster Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and the science fiction monsters-versus-robots film Pacific Rim (2013). The series also marks del Toro’s return to the live-action small screen, following The Strain.