Stephen Kingis so hot right now. Well, the best-selling author is a long-running staple of film and TV adaptations, but after the smash success of New Line’sITadaptation last year, studio’s are stocking up on the horror author’s titles at a breakneck pace. One of the more exciting projects in the works is the Warner Bros. adaptation ofDoctor Sleep, King’s 2013 followup to his classic novelThe Shining, which follows Danny Torrance into a troubled adulthood where his “shining” abilities land him in a whole new nightmare.
Writer-directorMike Flanagan(Ouija: Origin of Evil) is casting up, and today brings the news of a few exciting new names for the project. Deadline reports thatStarry EyesbreakoutAlex Essoeis set to take on the role of Wendy Torrance (which is some seriously sharp casting), withSupergirl’sCarl Lumblyset to play Dick Halloran. Those roles were oriinated by Shelley Duvall and Scatman Crothers in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation ofThe Shining.
Meanwhile, in the realm of new characters,Varietyreports thatWestworldstandoutZahn McClarnonis in talks to take on the role of Crow Daddy, the villainous member of a psychic cult that the adult Danny Torrance tangles with in the story. Crow Daddy is the right-hand-man and lover ofRebecca Ferguson’s Rose the Hat, the beautiful leader of the cult known as True Knot.Ewan McGregoris set to play Danny.
Doctor Sleeppicks up with Danny decades after the events ofThe Shining, when he follows in his father’s footsteps of alcoholism and anger issues, blotting out his lingering trauma and his “shining” abilities with his drinking problems. But when he embraces sobriety, his psychic powers return and he uses his abilities to help dying patients in a hospice where he earns the nickname Dr. Sleep. That’s where he meets Abra Stone, a little girl with a spectacular gift who is being hunted by fellow psychics who want her essence.
Flanagan is a King veteran and previously directed Netlfix’sGerald’s Game, the critically acclaimed take on King’s novel of the same name, which was long considered unadaptable. Flanagan rewrote the script froDoctor Sleep, originally penned byAkiva Goldsman.
Here’s the extended book synopsis forDoctor Sleepvia the Publisher Page:
“Stephen King returns to the character and territory of one of his most popular novels ever,The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.
