In the past almost 50 years Carrie the first hit in theaters, Hollywood has yet to tire of making Adaptations of Stephen Kingin large part because audiences still eagerly watch them. It’s a good thing, then, that the author is as prolific as ever after five decades of bestselling—although, as this list of our eight most anticipated upcoming King projects proves, Hollywood also loves a re-adaptation of King’s storiesfor the better and sometimes up.
Note: This is not a complete list all Royal adaptations underway; rather, these are the titles we’re most excited about, as well as those that either have a release date, are currently in production (or will be soon), or have had relatively recent updates that suggest they’re actually coming.
Monkey
Osgood Perkins has a lot of eyes on him after last year’s blockbuster success Long-leggedand this adaptation of King’s short story (first published in 1980, but most people know it from the 1985 collection Skeleton Crew) looks similarly bold. Yes, it’s a haunted toy, but its teaser poster also carries the following promise as a tagline: “Everybody dies. And that’s fucked up.” James Wan (Conjuration, Saw, Sneaky) products, adding bona fides to that horror. Monkey arrives in theaters on February 21.
The running man
When the world learned a new adaptation The running man was coming, only one thing mattered: would it make it in time to be published in the barely imaginable, distant year of 2025 in which the story takes place? Unless sabotage occurs between now and November, the answer is yeseven if we weren’t fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 story of King (written as Richard Bachman), we’d be very excited about this new version.
Edgar Wright directed and co-wrote the screenplay, which is said to be closer to the novel than Schwarzenegger’s film. The cast is led by Glen Powell as an ordinary man who joins the killing game, with an almost absurdly good cast consisting of Katy O’Brian, Josh Brolin, Lee Pace, Jayme Lawson, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, William H. Macy, and others. The running man arrives in theaters on November 7.
A long walk
Director Francis Lawrence has been tied to the creation of late The Hunger Games prequels, but is also connected to a different thriller, “Richard Bachman”—an adaptation of King’s 1979 novel about a group of teenage boys who embark on an organized death march that must end with one winner (shades The running man, Squid gameand, well, The Hunger Games). News of Lawrence joining the Lionsgate project broke in November 2023, months before Suzanne Collins announced her next The Hunger Games book Sunrise at Harvest (coming March 2025), and Lionsgate has said it will pursue a big-screen version of it with a target release date of 2026.
So we may have to wait a little longer A long walk if Lawrence plans to add another one The Hunger Games move on to his resume—or if he decides he’s had enough of bleak dystopias and hands the reins over to someone else. Anyway, this one is very ready.
Ono: Welcome to Derry
Unlike other entries on this list, Ono: Welcome to Derry not a traditional adaptation of King’s work. Like a late, great Hulu series Castle Rockexpands on the universe created not only by King in his 1986 novel, but also the cinematic world of Andy Muschietti’s recent pairing It movies. Muschietti will direct five of the nine episodes, so his vision will be very much conveyed, and the cast consists of Taylor Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, Rudy Mancuso and Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård. There is no exact release date yet, but it has been confirmed that it will come to HBO in 2025.
Fairy tale
A rare fantastic story from the master of horror, Fairy tale it was originally planned to be a feature film, but we learned in October that King’s bestseller is 2022. would become instead 10 episode series. Some big names are attached: studio A24, director Paul Greengrass (whose involvement carries over from the film’s beginnings) and presenter JH Wyman (Fringe, Almost Human). It’s about a teenager who befriends an elderly neighbor who then dies — leaving the kid instructions on how to access a portal that leads to another world.
There isn’t any streaming service or outlet associated with this as of now, but with that recent update and the talent behind it, including the fact that it’s based off of King’s recent and popular release, you have to assume it’ll be full speed ahead soon.
Chuck’s life and Carrie
Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King series adaptor returns, first with Chuck’s life. This story starring Tom Hiddleston is not horror story—based on the 2020 novel by King and has elements of science fiction, but has been described as more in the vein of The Shawshank Redemption or Stand by me (or perhaps even more upbeat than them; TIFF reviews called it “life-affirming” and “joyful”). It arrives in theaters on May 30.
Flanagan’s other active project King (apparently no The dark tower for now, unfortunately) is an eight-episode show oft-adapted Carriewhich will move its acclaimed horror series format from Netflix (The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher) to its new home in Prime Video. No release date yet, but word has dropped just before Halloween 2024so it comes.
Institute
If you cast Ben Barnes and Mary-Louise Parker in anything, we’re already intrigued, especially if Parker plays the villain. So our radar is fully on this eight-episode series based on King’s 2019 novel about a mysterious facility that harbors kidnapped children with psychic and telekinetic powers. It’s coming from MGM+—a streaming service that’s admittedly not on everyone’s radar—but in December Diversity revealed that King himself is on board as an executive producer, which bodes well. The Switch also got a first look at a younger cast, which is older than the book (instead of teenagers, they’re teenagers), led by Joe Freeman, the son of Sherlock and Marvel actor Martin Freeman. No release date yet, but Institute should appear this year.
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