Netflix to Release 'Lucky': The Final Film of Harry Dean Stanton and James Darren
Bethany Gemmell
Fri, September 18, 2026 at 10:09 PM GMT+2
Nearly a decade after its limited theatrical release, Lucky will be taking its chances on gaining a wider audience on Netflix. The 2017 modern western drama is directed by John Caroll Lynch, the actor best known for his roles in Fargo and American Horror Story, in his filmmaking debut. Lucky is also the final film role for two Hollywood icons: its lead actor, Harry Dean Stanton, best known for Paris, Texas (1984) and Cool Hand Luke (1967), and James Darren, the actor/singer known for his on-screen roles in Gidget (1959) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). Stanton and Darren died in 2017 and 2023, respectively.
In addition to the two late stars, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt, Barry Shabaka Henley, Beth Grant, Yvonne Huff Lee, and Hugo Armstrong also star in the film, alongside David Lynch, in an on-screen appearance from the iconic filmmaker.
Lucky “follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town,” Magnolia Pictures’ official synopsis for the film states. “Having outlived and outsmoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment.”
“Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut, ‘Lucky’, is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton,” the synopsis continues.