Summary
- Stephen King's fantasy novel The Eyes of the Dragon has been optioned multiple times for adaptation, but budgetary concerns have cancelled recent plans for a TV series.
- The Long Walk, one of King's early novels, has been rumored for adaptation since 1988, but it's now receiving promidates with Francis Lawrence as director and Lionsgate's involvement.
- While Stephen King's novel Joyland received offers for adaptation into a series, no official updates have been announced, suggesting it may not be adapted anytime soon.
Stephen King has had dozens of movies and TV shows adapted from his books and short stories, making him the most adapted author alive. He is quickly catching up to the next most prolific author to be adapted, Agatha Christie. However, both are a considerable way off from the all-time most adapted writer, William Shakespeare. However, his work has a couple of hundred years advantage over Christie and King to spread around the world and be released in many languages.
While King typically has studios queueing up to buy the film and TV rights to his work, several projects of his are yet to be adapted. For many, the rights have been acquired, but for one reason or another, the project has never gone all the way to having an adaptation made. The industry can be challenging and time-consuming when it comes to getting projects fully realized, with many productions taking years to cross the finish line.
9 The Eyes Of The Dragon
Published 1984
First in the lineup of unrealized book adaptations is King's detour into writing an epic fantasy novel. While King is predominantly known for his contributions to horror, The Eyes of the Dragon is set within the world of his wider fantasy stories, The Dark Tower, and details a story about a jealous magician and his competition for the throne. The rights for the project have been optioned multiple times since before 2000. Most recently, Hulu announced plans to adapt the novel into a TV series, with Seth Grahame-Smith to produce, but after years in development hell, Seth confirmed the project was canceled due to budgetary concerns (via Audioboom).
8 The Long Walk
Published 1979
Recently, the project received its most promidate in years with Francis Lawrence announced as director and a creative team forming around the project.
Although The Long Walk wasn't published until 1979, it was King's first complete novel. After releasing other books and establishing his success, King went on to write several novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, with The Long Walk being the second to be released. Since 1988, rumors have swirled about adaptations with George A. Romero approached to direct, but this never panned out (via THR). Recently, the project received its most promidate in years with Francis Lawrence announced as director and a creative team forming around the project. If all continues to go well, it could appear in the next couple of years thanks to Lionsgate.
10 Tropes Stephen King Loves To Use In His Stories
For better or for worse, Stephen King tends to reuse a lot of tropes and archetypes in his stories, and they are ever-present in the adaptations.
7 Joyland
Published 2013
Stephen King was well-established by 2013 and anything he writes is usually considered for an adaptation. So when his novel Joyland was released in 2013, it quickly had offers to adapt the story of a haunted theme park and a lonely boy. In 2018, Freeform was attempting to turn the novel into a series (via Deadline), but since the initial announcement, nothing official has come from anywhere to elaborate on the project. Making it seem likely that Joyland won't be adapted any time soon.
6 Revival
Published 2014
Revival is another of King's latest works to be shopped around and continuously end up dead in the water. The novel follows an ex-preacher who heals people through unconventional methods using electricity, akin to how Frankenstein animates his monster. While the project has had eager attempts to adapt it and several names attached, including to write and direct, the project appears to have been canceled in 2021 (via Collider).
5 Roadwork
Published 1981
Another of King's novels published under the Bachman name, Roadwork, is about a man who is due to have both his home and work demolished to make room for an extension to a nearby highway. The project was due to be adapted by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the team behind It and It: Chapter Two, as announced in 2019, but further updates have yet to appear (via Slash Film). The project is likely to make its way to the big screen at some point, but until further developments are announced, and the creative team attached, it's not expected to arrive anytime soon.
4 The Regulators
Published 1996
While this novel was released almost 20 years ago, discussions about adaptations have only recently resurfaced and received any sort of credible updates.
The final entry from Richard Bachman to be included on this list, The Regulators was created as a parallel alternate universe to the one depicted in Stephen King's Desperation. While this novel was released almost 20 years ago, discussions about adaptations have only recently resurfaced and received any sort of credible updates. In late 2022, a script by George Cowan was potentially being penned for Bohemia Group (via Deadline). Further updates have been non-existent, but with how recently the announcement came out, further news could be arriving any day.
10 Best Film Adaptations Of Stephen King's Short Stories, According To IMDb
Although maybe not quite as famous as some of Stephen King's other works, these adaptations are no less scary.
3 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Published 1999
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows a 9-year-old girl who gets separated from her family on a hike. She struggles to keep her sanity with almost no food or water and a walkman that she uses to listen to reports about her favorite athlete, Tom Gordon. The novel was originally set to be adapted by George A. Romero, but it stalled and wasn't revisited until after his death. As recently as 2019 and 2020, there have been updates with the film still being produced by Romero's wife, Chris Romero, and directed by Lynne Ramsey (via THR).
2 From A Buick 8
Published 2002
From a Buick 8 is King's second novel about a supernatural car, after the highly praised Christine. Again, George A. Romero was originally attached to the project and scripts were being written, but after changing hands several times and stalling production, the adaptation now appears to be in the hands of actor Thomas Jane, who has formed a production company in order to bring this project to life. In August 2020, he announced that Jim Mickle had been signed on to direct (via Bloody Disgusting).
1 Duma Key
Published 2008
Duma Key follows an elderly man who suffers a terrible injury that prevents him from working his manual labor job. As his life begins to fall apart, he is encouraged to take up his hobby of art and move to the quiet retirement island of Duma Key, Florida. Supernatural events begin to occur around him and his drawings, and the mystery thickens as the novel unfolds. Duma Key has had multiple rumors circulate about the project being adapted and even names attached to direct, but nothing reputable or recent. It appears that Stephen King's Duma Key is far from a potential adaptation at present.
