This week, you may have read about Stephen King expressing frustration about the delayed release of Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot – which he describes as “quite good” and “old-school horror filmmaking” – but if that’s the only development out of the King world that you’ve seen from the last few days, you’re only skimming the surface. There are also a few other developments of which fans should make note, and I’ve brought those stories together in this week’s edition of The King Beat.
With this being the twenty-seventh edition of this column, it feels perfectly appropriate that there is a new update about the developing Max original series Welcome To Derry, and the brilliant miniseries Storm Of The Century celebrated its 25th anniversary this week, but before getting into those headlines and my Recommendation Of The Week, let’s first spotlight the streaming series that has recently captured Stephen King’s attention: The Tourist starring Jamie Dornan.
Stephen King Has Started Watching The Tourist On Netflix, And It Definitely Appeals To His Sensibilities
A few weeks ago, Stephen King shared high praise for Season 5 of Fargo, taking to Twitter to call it “amazing, offbeat, and riveting.” If you have since taken his recommendation to watch it and appreciated the suggestion, now there is a new series to check out that has received the King stamp of approval. The Tourist technically isn’t a new show, as its first season premiered a couple years ago, but it’s now new to Netflix, and it has gotten the author hooked.
After debuting in the UK on BBC One in January 2022, the series started streaming on HBO Max a few months later, but it switched platforms this past December in advance of Season 2’s arrival, and it’s now been made available to Netflix subscribers. New episodes of The Tourist won’t be available until the end of the month, but Stephen King has begun the process of catching up with what already exists, and he Tweeted this past Saturday that he was invested instantly after watching the first episode:
THE TOURIST (Netflix): Don't know what happens after the first episode, but the opening chapter is flat-out terrific. Exciting, suspenseful, mysterious...and full of the kindness of strangers to someone down on his luck.
In The Tourist, Jamie Dornan stars as an unnamed man visiting the Australian outback. Seemingly without reason, he finds himself pursued by a driver in a tractor trailer, and after he gets T-boned, he wakes up in a hospital without any idea who he is or what he was doing prior to the collision. With the help of a young local police officer named Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), he starts to retrace his steps and encounters both sympathy and danger.
Watching the first episode of The Tourist with Stephen King’s sensibilities in mind, it’s easy to understand why it appeals to him. There’s a significant geographical distance between the Australian outback and the municipalities of Maine, but there is a shared small town energy that comes from the friendly locals the protagonist encounters. At the same time, there is a darkness that is lingering over the mystery and shady individuals comingling with the good people.
In the last few days, Stephen King has dug further into the show, and on Wednesday, he co-sponsored an opinion about one of The Tourist’s key characters. Bev Vincent, who has written multiple books and articles about King’s work, Tweeted that the one character he hates more than the show’s central villain (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson's Billy) is Greg Larsen’s Ethan Krum – Helen’s fiancée. King seconded the take in a Quote Tweet:
Agreed. Although there’s also something sad and needy about the guy. https://t.co/gFlVIulxUIFebruary 22, 2024
The six-episode first season of The Tourist is available to stream now, and Season 2 will premiere on the streaming service next Thursday, February 29.
IT Prequel Welcome To Derry Has Restarted Production In Advance Of Its 2025 Arrival
Last May, director Andy Muschietti revealed that filming had begun on the upcoming Stephen King project Welcome To Derry… but the crew wasn’t able to work for very long. While the production began amid the WGA strike, the series had to go into hiatus when the actors in the SAG-AFTRA union joined the picket line in July 2023. Because of this delay, it was revealed in November that the target release date was shifting from 2024 to 2025 – but fans will at least be happy to know that shooting finally resumed this past week in Toronto.
At the end of last week, Welcome To Derry co-showrunner Jason Fuchs took to his personal Instagram page to provide followers with a brief update about the Stephen King show. Posting a picture of his on-set director’s chair (which is accented with a red balloon next to his name), the filmmaker wrote, “Back at IT” as a caption. You can check out his post below:
Fuchs' most recent credit is the Matthew Vaughn action film Argylle, and he was both a co-producer on IT Chapter Two and part of the supporting cast (he plays Richie Tozier's manager).
Not much has been officially revealed about Welcome To Derry, but it has been confirmed that it will be a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, and there has been a lot of chatter about it being set in the 1960s (in the continuity, Pennywise would be on-schedule reemerging in the titular Maine town in 1961). It has not been confirmed whether or not Bill Skarsgård will be reprising his role as the iconic killer clown from the blockbuster films, but the show’s talented cast does include The Stand’s Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, James Remar, Chris Chalk, Stephen Rider, and Madeleine Stowe. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we do know one character will be Clint Bowers – a relative of bully/murderer Henry Bowers.
A very quick peek at Welcome To Derry was revealed at the end of 2023, but it may be a minute before we get to see any footage from the show. You can be sure that as soon as a debut trailer arrives online, we’ll have it for you here on CinemaBlend.
Stephen King’s Best TV Miniseries Celebrated Its 25th Anniversary This Week
There are many great Stephen King adaptations and originals made for the small screen. There’s a number of classic miniseries, including 1990’s IT and 1994’s The Stand, and the streaming age has been wonderful, with titles such as 11.22.63, Castle Rock and Lisey’s Story. If we’re talking about the best of the best, however, the conversation begins and ends with Storm Of The Century – which just celebrated its 25th anniversary this past week.
Based on an original teleplay by King and airing across three nights in February 1999, the miniseries returns Constant Readers to Little Tall Island – the isle off the coast of Maine that is also featured in Dolores Claiborne – and it finds the community in the midst of crisis. A blizzard is on the way to blast the town, and residents secure their homes before making their way to take shelter in the town hall. The weather makes everyone tense, but making everything much, much worse is the arrival of a stranger who identifies himself as Andre Linoge (Colm Feore) and introduces himself by murdering a helpless old woman.
When it becomes clear that Linoge possesses dangerous supernatural abilities that threaten everyone in town, he offers a bargain: if they give him what he wants, he will leave.
Exactly what Linoge wants is a secret that’s worth keeping for those who have not yet watched the four-hour-plus epic – as it’s not only a haunting and memorable request, but it ends up spawning one of Stephen King’s best endings in any medium. Similar to “The Mist” and Under The Dome, it’s a story that examines how people will react when they are confined, in danger, and forced to make impossible decisions, and it goes to some shocking and dark places for a network television creation.
Sadly, there is a continued wait for Storm Of The Century to enter the HD age, but one nice thing about the streaming age is that the miniseries is very easy to find. Along with Rose Red, Castle Rock and 11.22.63, It’s now available to watch with a Hulu subscription.
Recommendation Of The Week: “Trucks”
The inspiration behind this week’s short story recommendation is pretty simple. Given that this month marks the 46th anniversary of Night Shift, I wanted to pick another selection from that collection, and “Trucks” immediately sprung to mind as I was watching the opening chase sequence in The Tourist. It was difficult to watch Jamie Dornan get pursued by a big rig and not have my brain instantly connect the dots with the Green Goblin-adorned goliath in Stephen King’s notorious directorial debut, Maximum Overdrive.
Featuring a much more serious tone than what’s presented in King’s 1986 big screen adaptation, “Trucks” throws readers into the midst of an apocalypse, as six strangers find themselves trapped together at a freeway rest stop as trucks and busses magically become conscious and start hunting human beings. There are escape attempts and confrontations using explosives, but before too long, the reality of the characters’ one true fate becomes all too clear.
That brings this week’s edition of The King Beat to a close, but be sure to look for my column next Thursday and every Thursday here on CinemaBlend. Meanwhile, you can learn about the full history of Stephen King adaptations with my series Adapting Stephen King.
