Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo will pad his résumé with yet another Netflix show. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the young actor will host and executive produce an eight-episode hidden show entitled Prank Encounter.
Netflix has described Prank Encounter as “terrifying and hilarious prank show” which unites two strangers under false pretenses: they both think that they are starting their first day at a brand new job. According to the streamer, what starts off as a normal day at a part-time unravels into mayhem as soon as their paths cross.
Executive producers Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Kevin Healy, who all hale from the production banner Propagate, will join Matarazzo and Bob Hyde ((Terrence Howard’s Fright Club, Troy) on the project. Anthony Gonzales, known for his work on the popular reality shows Undercover Boss and Dance Moms has been slated to direct.
Matarazzo got his start on Broadway, playing both Benjamin in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Gavroche in Les Misérables. Following this, he appeared on an episode of The Black List, but the young actor did not strike fame until 2016 when he was cast as Dustin on Netflix’s science fiction hit, Stranger Things. He was awarded two Screen Actors Guild Award for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Member in a Drama Series,” a Shorty Award for “Best Actor” and an MTV Movie & TV Award for “Best On-Screen Team” for his work on the show. Season 3 of Stranger Things will premiere on Netflix on July 4, and will feature a new creature wreaking havoc in the summer of 1985.
At the age of 16, Matarazzo was on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of Top 30 Stars Under 18 in 2018. He has been able to use his young yet successful career to build awareness for Cleidocranial dysplasia, or CCD, a skeletal disorder that the actor himself lives with.
Prank Encounters will air on Netflix in late 2019.