Stephen King’s creepy short story, The Mist, was already adapted into an underrated feature from Frank Darabont back in 2007, but Spike’s small-screen take on the material promises to be something quite different, as this terrifying first trailer can attest to.
The premise remains pretty much the same: small town residents are tormented by a strange, unexplained vapor that unleashes predatory creatures onto the streets, who proceed to slaughter everyone they come in contact with. However, the show will differ from the source material by introducing a cast of all-new characters, and expanding on the original mythology in some significant ways.
The Mist‘s creator, Christian Torpe, explained his approach to adapting the novella during a recent interview with EW, and had the following to say:
I wanted to be respectful to the source material, but my feeling was there was already a great adaptation out there by Frank Darabont. The novella is 200 pages and one location, and we needed to change that to make an ongoing series. But we wanted to remain faithful to the heart of the story.
The trailer provides a first look at some of these new characters as they attempt to figure out what on earth (or further afield) is going on, and there’s also a suggestion that whatever nightmarish beasts are concealed by the fog have a much more personal connection to their victims than the seemingly mindless monsters of King’s story. It does appear, though, that the larger themes of fear-mongering and the darker side of human nature will still ultimately emerge as the “real” monsters.
The Mist premieres on Thursday, June 22 on Spike. Will you be tuning in? Let us know in the usual place.
