If there’s one thing the world needs more of right now, it’s Stephen King adaptations. After all, there are only fifteen movies and six TV series based on the author’s work in various stages of development, and that’s not even including J.J. Abrams’ The Shining spinoff Overlook.
As part of Bad Robot’s massive first-look deal with WarnerMedia, the polarizing filmmaker announced three shows for HBO Max, all of which were immediately ordered straight to series. There’s comic book adaptation Justice League Dark, crime thriller Duster and Overlook, with Abrams only set as executive producer of the trio at the moment, but he could conceivably end up getting involved in the writing or directing side of things in the future.
The Shining has proven to be surprisingly fertile ground for Hollywood, despite Stanley Kubrick turning the source material into one of the greatest psychological horrors ever made, a fairly daunting task for anyone to try and emulate. Stephen King actually prefers the three-episode ABC miniseries that aired in 1997 because it stayed much truer to the novel, while Mike Flanagan’s sequel Doctor Sleep was a hit with critics but fizzled out at the box office.
Not much is known about Overlook other than the plot makes the titular hotel the centerpiece of the story across ten episodes, presumably causing all sorts of eerie problems for the guests. We’ve heard nothing about the project for almost a year, but HBO chief Casey Bloys did confirm in a recent interview that it’s still very much a priority.
“We haven’t seen anything. I’m excited to see it. They seem encouraged and happy, but I don’t have any update other than they’re busily working away at Bad Robot.”
Do we need a TV show set in the world of The Shining? Probably not, but there’s definitely potential in the premise of Overlook, while Castle Rock showed that Abrams and Bad Robot have a decent handle on loosely adapting King for the small screen.
