Your Guide to Every Stephen King Adaptation That's Happening (or Not)
These days, it seems like a surefire way for hungry writers looking to get projects green-lit is to base them on Stephen King stories. Every week it feels like there's a new TV show, movie, or TV movie in the pipeline based on one of his many, many books or short stories or novellas. I would say he should pop up in all of them in little cameos like Stan Lee did in Marvel movies, but there are simply too many, and he would never have the time to write another word again.
We searched around for every Stephen King story that's being adapted or is maybe being adapted (note: we're not counting it as fully set in stone until there's a cast list) and there were... well, a ton more than we expected. Let's take a look at what's coming up:
Movies That Are Definitely Happening
It: Chapter Two
A no-brainer, after Andy Muschietti's It became the highest-grossing R-rated horror of all time. Chapter Two adapts the second half of King's sprawling novel, with Bill Skarsgård returning as Pennywise/It and the likes of James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, and Bill Hader joining the cast as the adult versions of the children from the first part.
When's it out? In theaters September 6, 2019
In The Tall Grass
King wrote this short story with Joe Hill—who is the writer of Horns, NOS4A2, and who is also King's son. Splice and Cube director Vincenzo Natali is making the film. The original story is great, focusing on a brother and sister who hear a young boy calling for help in a field full of, you guessed it, tall grass. A bunch of spooky and terrible stuff ensues.
When's it out? Unclear, but it'll be on Netflix.
Doctor Sleep
Yes, this is technically a continuation of The Shining, but don't expect to spend a lot of time (or any at all) at the Overlook. Mike Flanagan is directing and is more than a safe pair of hands at the helm, having nailed it in pas years with Gerald's Game and The Haunting of Hill House. Ewan McGregor plays an adult Danny Torrance, still fucked up by the whole "dad trying to kill him" thing, being hunted by a cult that wants his powers.
When's it out? In theaters on November 8, 2019.
TV Shows That Are Definitely Happening
Castle Rock Season Two
Castle Rock is a fun one, remixing and plucking from all of King's stories to tell a new, original story each season. Season Two will have a new cast and story, headlined by Lizzy Caplan as Annie Wilkes, who you might remember as the nurse who smashes that guy's knees with a hammer in Misery. It's going to be lit.
When's it out? On Hulu, hopefully later this year.
Mr. Mercedes Season Three
It's a criminally underrated show, but you can catch the first two seasons of Mr. Mercedes on the Audience network. It's more crime and procedural-oriented than a lot of King's other work, but still keeps the aura of dread and insane twists the writer loves so much. Brendan Gleeson's in it, it's great, go watch it.
When's it out? It's filming right now, so fall 2019 is a safe bet.
Lisey's Story
Julianne Moore has been cast to play Lisey in an eight-episode season that's being written by King himself, and produced by J.J. Abrams. The novel is both tender and terrifying, following a woman whose successful novelist husband has died, and taken some secrets with him.
When's it out? This thing just came together, so sometime next year is likely. It'll be on Apple+.
The Outsider
One of King's latest novels, The Outsider is a pretty average King story, but one that will hopefully be elevated by HBO's ability to make some good-ass TV, and star Ben Mendelsohn, who has never met a role he couldn't own.
When's it out? On HBO, sometime in 2020.
Movies That Are Maybe Happening
(Note: There have been many more King projects announced, but we're considering anything there hasn't been news about in more than two years as good as dead.)
From a Buick 8
Announced last year, this is a killer car story in the same vein as King's Christine, only more folksy. William Brent Bell, who directed the underrated The Boy, is attached to direct.
Revival
King's batshit 2014 novel is one of his weirder ones, and I sure hope they keep all the completely ridiculous turns in the movie. Josh Boone says he'll get to work on it when he's done with New Mutants.
Mile 81
Another killer car story, this time a violent novella King wrote as an eBook. *Deadline*'s plot summary differs from the original story, but I won't spoil how or why: "Set around a remote, boarded-up rest stop, the film will follow 12-year-old Pete, his brother, and a group of strangers who must fight to survive as they’re hunted by a mysterious force."
The Talisman
Announced just last month, Mike Barker of The Handmaids Tale is attached to direct The Talisman, which follows a detective trying to solve a bunch of horrible murders in a small town. Look: King knows what he likes.
The Tommyknockers
James Wan has been talking up The Tommyknockers for a while, but there's been no news recently. It's about a town driven mad by a mysterious gas from a mysterious spaceship.
The Jaunt
For my money, this is King's scariest short story, and one I can't imagine working as a film, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see it. It looks like this project is dead, but if any magnanimous billionaire producer out there is reading this, please make a The Jaunt movie just for me.
TV Series That Are Maybe Happening
Joyland
Freeform is planning a series adaptation of Joyland, which "tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever."
The Stand
One of King's biggest and most ambitious novels, The Stand feels almost impossible to adapt. Still, CBS All Access says it can do it. No casting news yet, but this one looks likely.
Sleeping Beauties
King and his son Owen's novel about a strange... virus? Force? It's one that causes every woman in the world to cocoon themselves as they sleep, and violently kill anyone who wakes them up. It rules, and AMC is shooting a pilot soon.
