Nathan Parker

Nathan Parker’s kind of a wild card in the screenwriting game—honestly, a lot of folks wouldn’t even recognize his face, but his work? Different story. So, he’s the guy behind “Moon” (2009)—that trippy, claustrophobic sci-fi where Sam Rockwell’s basically losing his grip on reality while dealing with clones and corporate shadiness on the moon. It’s got this eerie, lonely vibe that sticks with you way after the credits roll. Parker’s love for psychological twists and moral gray zones pops up again in “Equals” (2015), where he takes you into this future where emotions are outlawed (yeah, that old chestnut), but somehow manages to pull off something that feels fresh. The characters are cold on the outside but inside, they’re freaking out, trying to figure out if love is worth risking everything. Pretty on-the-nose for a society obsessed with control, don’t you think? And then there’s “The Underground Railroad” (2021). While he didn’t write the whole thing (it’s mostly Colson Whitehead’s story, adapted by Barry Jenkins), Parker’s input on the scripts helped give it that gut-punch, raw emotional kick. The show’s brutal honesty about America’s history doesn’t flinch, and there’s a weird beauty in how Parker’s writing weaves hope, horror, and resistance together. He’s got a knack for making you sit with uncomfortable truths, pushing you to question what you’d do in the same situations. Not a guy who does cookie-cutter scripts, that’s for sure. Parker’s stuff lingers, messes with your head, and makes you wonder about the world outside your window.