Glen Mazzara To Write Shining Prequel, The Overlook Hotel

The Shining has been a hot topic lately. Rodney Ascher’s documentary about the classic horror film, Room 237, has been earning pretty good reviews and Stephen King, the author of The Shining, is writing a sequel titled Doctor Sleep. Now we’re hearing that Warner Bros. is trying to get their prequel going and to do so, they’ve given it a title and a writer. The film is set to be called The Overlook Hotel and The Walking Dead showrunner, Glen Mazzara, will be writing it.

No word yet on the plot behind the prequel but those familiar with the source material know that there is a lot of possibilities for Mazzara to explore as the Overlook has quite the history behind it. Plus, prequels seem to be doing well these days, with recent TV shows Bates Motel and Hannibal both earning strong reviews and solid audience numbers. In fact, I’m a bit surprised that WB didn’t decide to go the television route with this one, I think it could have done quite well. Nevertheless, we’re intrigued with the possibility of a prequel to the iconic horror film.

Glen Mazzara is definitely a proven talent and he knows the genre well. Ultimately, a lot of the film’s success will rest on finding the right director, someone who can give us something in the vein of what Kubrick gave us with his classic. I can think of a few solid candidates off the top of my head (James Wan, anyone?) but it will be interesting to see who the studio settles on.

For now though, all we can do is speculate. And on that note, head down to the comments and let us know your thoughts on The Overlook Hotel? Are you looking forward to it? Where do you think they will go with the story? Any ideas?