2017–present: filmmaking
In February 2017, Peele's first film, Get Out, was released to critical acclaim, eventually scoring a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film received universal acclaim for Peele's screenplay and direction, as well as the performance of its lead, Daniel Kaluuya, and was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time magazine as one of the top 10 films of the year. The Atlantic called the film "a subversive horror masterpiece". Get Out proved to be popular with audiences, and it eventually became one of the most profitable horror films, and films of 2017, and grossed over $255 million on a budget of $4.5 million. For his work on the film, Peele received significant attention, as well as numerous accolades, including the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award at the 2017 Gotham Independent Film Awards. The film also received four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Peele, as well as a Best Actor nomination for Kaluuya. Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, becoming the first African American screenwriter to win in this category. He became the third person, after Warren Beatty and James L. Brooks, to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for a debut film, and the first black person to receive them for any one film. Get Out also earned him the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as nominations for a Directors Guild of America Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. Notably, Get Out was also nominated for Best Picture in Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes, something that sparked a bit of controversy surrounding the film and exactly what genre it fit into. The success prompted his Monkeypaw Productions company to a first look deal with Universal Pictures.
In early 2018, Peele announced his intention to retire from acting, stating in an interview with CBS "Acting is just nowhere near as fun for me as directing". In 2018, Peele co-created the TBS comedy series The Last O.G., starring Tracy Morgan and Tiffany Haddish. Also in 2018, Peele co-produced the Spike Lee film, BlacKkKlansman which was released to critical acclaim and was a box office success. The film received six nominations at the 91st Academy Awards including the Best Picture nomination for Peele. On June 28, 2018, it was announced that YouTube Premium would be releasing Weird City, co-created by Peele and Charlie Sanders. The show was released on February 13, 2019, to critical acclaim. On April 5, 2018, it was announced that Amazon Video had given a four-episode order for Lorena, a docuseries about Lorena Bobbitt. The series was set to be directed by Joshua Rofé who would also executive produce alongside Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Steven J. Berger, Jenna Santoianni, and Tom Lesinski. Production companies involved with the series include Monkeypaw Productions, Sonar Entertainment, and Number 19. It ultimately premiered on February 15, 2019.
Peele's second film as director was Us, a horror-thriller film which he also wrote and produced, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. After having its world premiere on March 8, the film was released in the United States on March 22, 2019, by Universal Pictures, Monkeypaw Productions, and QC Entertainment. Peele developed and is narrator for the science fiction web television series The Twilight Zone, the third revival of the original 1959–64 anthology series that aired on CBS, for CBS All Access. The show premiered on April 1, 2019, with Peele, Simon Kinberg and Marco Ramirez as executive producers. In February 2020, Peele produced a 10-episode series about hunting down Nazis called Hunters. Peele produced the HBO series Lovecraft Country written by Underground co-creator Misha Green.
Peele co-produced and co-wrote the 2021 sequel to Candyman, through his Monkeypaw Productions, of which Candyman star Tony Todd stated in a 2018 interview with Nightmare on Film Street, "I'd rather have him do it, someone with intelligence, who's going to be thoughtful and dig into the whole racial makeup of who Candyman is and why he existed in the first place." Universal and MGM collaborated with Win Rosenfeld to co-produce the film with Peele, and Nia DaCosta directed. The new Candyman serves as a "spiritual sequel", taking place back in the Chicago Cabrini Green housing projects, which subsequently underwent gentrification. After multiple delays, the film was theatrically released on August 27, 2021, to positive reviews.
Peele's third directorial feature, Nope, was released on July 22, 2022.
On November 3, 2015, it was reported that Henry Selick was developing Wendell & Wild, a new stop-motion feature with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key based on an original story by Selick. In March 2018, the film was picked up by Netflix. Wendell & Wild was released on Netflix in 2022.
There have been several films floated based on Peele's sketch comedy series Key & Peele. In March 2015, it was announced that Key would reprise the role of Mr. Garvey in a feature-length film Substitute Teacher with Peele portraying a rival teacher. In March 2017 in a Reddit AMA, Peele expressed interest in developing a film around his Key & Peele character Wendell Sanders based on the music video "The Power of Wings". The film, titled Wendell Meets Middle-Earth, would follow Wendell's existence in the fantasy world that he likes to see his life in.
In October 2020, Rosenfeld and Peele signed on to produce the remake of Wes Craven's 1991 comedy horror film The People Under the Stairs. It was reported in September 2021 that his Monkeypaw Productions company had struck a deal with Universal Television. Peele approached Walt Disney Pictures with a proposal for a live-action remake of their cult favorite animated property, Gargoyles, but was declined.
At the Game Awards 2023, Peele announced his collaboration with video game designer Hideo Kojima on his next game, OD, an experimental horror title.
Peele's next directorial effort was set to be released on December 25, 2024, before being quietly pulled from Universal's release schedule following the impact of the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Universal later reinstated the film with a new release date of October 23, 2026, which would mark the longest gap between Peele's films to date. In September 2025, the movie was removed from Universal's release schedule again, with no new announced release date.
In February 2017, Peele curated the Brooklyn Academy of Music film series "The Art of the Social Thriller", comprising 12 films that inspired the making of Get Out, including the horror films Rosemary's Baby, Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, Candyman, The People Under the Stairs, Scream, The Silence of the Lambs, Funny Games, Misery, the thrillers Rear Window and The 'Burbs, and the comedy drama Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
As a filmmaker, Peele has cited his influences as being Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher, John Carpenter, and M. Night Shyamalan.
As a comedian, Peele counts among his influences In Living Color, and Richard Pryor, both of which included a token white character, in contrast to the more common token black character. He also has listed Steve Martin and Martin Lawrence as arguably his two biggest influences.
