Happy Halloween, King Beat readers! There is no more appropriate day on the calendar to celebrate the legacy of Stephen King, so I’m happy for that reason that the holiday is on a Thursday this year so that I have a brand new column ready to publish. This also happens to have been a tremendously exciting week in the world of King, as the author has announced he is venturing back into the fictional universes he introduced in The Dark Tower and The Talisman.
That’s the headlining story, but there’s also been some exciting developments on the casting front for Edgar Wright’s upcoming remake of The Running Man, and those of you who are looking for something spooky to binge tonight may want to heed a recommendation Stephen King offered earlier this month. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!
Stephen King Has Revealed He’s Returning To Both The Territories And Mid-World, An
Stephen King did some wonderful work making Constant Readers antsy this past summer. In July, he provided an update about his plans to write a sequel to The Talisman and Black House (making no promises while doing so), and one month later, various comments and social media posts invited speculation that he was considering a return to the world of The Dark Tower a.k.a. Mid-World. This past week, this teasing intensified in a significant fashion, as while King still isn’t guaranteeing the results will be published, he has confirmed that he is in the kitchen and cooking.
But what exactly is it that he’s working on?
The impetus of this King Beat headline is a post that Stephen King published on his personal Twitter account this past Saturday. In no uncertain terms, the author confirmed that he is “back” in the universes of The Talisman and The Dark Tower, though he provided no details regarding what form the work may ultimately take. He wrote,
I'm back in Mid-World...and the Territories. Don't know if it will develop into anything--I never know--but it's good to be back.
To provide a quick recap for those of you who don’t quite understand the significance of this…
The Talisman and Black House are connected novels that Stephen King co-wrote with Peter Straub (who sadly passed away in 2022). The first book is a fantastical adventure about a young pre-teen named Jack Sawyer who learns about the existence of a parallel reality called The Territories, and he must go on a perilous journey through the country so that he can find a cure for his mother’s cancer. The sequel catches up with Jack as an adult and retired police detective who finds himself embedded in the hunt for a vicious serial killer who has been dubbed The Fisherman.
Mid-World, meanwhile, is the primary setting of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, which principally centers on a group of heroes – Roland Deschain, Jake Chambers, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, and Oy – who are on the quest for the titular monolith, which stands at the center of reality. It’s a universe built on blended elements of westerns, fantasy, and science-fiction, and while King has said that he has completed the story of Roland and his friends, he has teased more ideas set within Mid-World.
It’s notable that Stephen King is simultaneously taking on returns to Mid-World and The Territories, as while they were introduced as distinct settings, that changed with Black House. Without getting too deep into spoilers for those of you who haven’t read the book and wish to, the conclusion of the novel creates direct ties between the worlds and the efforts made by sinister forces to try and destroy The Dark Tower.
In regards to a sequel to The Talisman and Black House, Stephen King has said that he has unearthed a letter from Peter Straub with ideas for how to continue the story of Jack Sawyer with a narrative inspired by the 1950s serial killer Charles Starkweather. Whether or not that’s what King is specifically working on as referenced in the Tweet is unclear; we can’t rule out the possibility that what he is working on is a short story or novella instead of a full-on novel.
Also interesting to consider with this update are upcoming adaptations. Given Stephen King’s comments about Roland’s story being done, one imagines that what he is working on probably won’t have an impact on Mike Flanagan’s developing Dark Tower TV series, but not to be forgotten is that Matt and Ross Duffer (the creators of Stranger Things) are working with showrunner Curtis Gwinn to develop a streaming show based on The Talisman at Netflix. If King is working on a new Jack Sawyer story, that makes that project far more fascinating.
We’ll have to wait and see what comes of King’s latest writing pursuits, but in the meantime, you can mark your calendar in anticipation of the author’s latest book, as his latest Holly Gibney mystery, Never Flinch, is going to arrive in stores everywhere on May 27, 2025.
William H. Macy Being Cast In The Running Man Recalls His Emmy-Nominated Performance In A Terrifically Underrated Stephen King Adaptation
Edgar Wright is in the process of putting together a tremendous ensemble cast for his adaptation of The Running Man, but looking at the list of names, one thing that stands out is a lack of stars with Stephen King experience. It will be the first King movie for not just lead Glen Powell, but also Josh Brolin, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Katy O'Brian, Daniel Ezra, Karl Glusman, and Emilia Jones. The lone exception to this pattern is William H. Macy, who joined the cast this week (via The Hollywood Reporter) – and it will be his first King project in nearly two decades.
In 2006, Macy was one of the multiple standout stars who took a part in the Stephen King-centric anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes, and it’s a highlight on the actor’s resume for two reasons: it’s a performance that earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, and his episode is the best of the show’s run. Given that Nightmares & Dreamscapes stands among the best Stephen King TV projects ever, that’s not an insignificant superlative.
In “Umney's Last Case” – the third episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes – William H. Macy plays the titular Clyde Umney, a private detective living in 1930s Los Angeles. While all things seem fine at the start of the story, everything in Umney’s life begins to quickly fall apart with no apparent explanation. It’s a mystery that baffles him… right up until he meets a writer named Sam Landry (also played by Macy), who informs Umney that he isn’t a real person; he’s a fictional creation.
The Running Man will be William H. Macy’s first Stephen King movie in 18 years, and the role will see him play an individual who helps protagonist Ben Richards (Glen Powell) as he competes on the titular deadly game show. Production is scheduled to begin in early November 2024, and Paramount Pictures has put it on the release calendar for November 21, 2025. Meanwhile, if you want to watch “Umney's Last Case,” I’m sad to report that your only option is to pick up a copy of the DVD, as the show isn’t available to stream or to rent or purchase digitally.
Looking For A Last Minute Halloween Night Binge? Give The Stephen King-Recommended Teacup On Peacock A Try
If you’re a devout horror fan, Halloween can present a conundrum. Watching scary movies and TV is as traditional for the holiday as trick or treating and carving jack-o'-lanterns, but what do you do if you’ve already watched all of the classics 1,001 times? When faced with this challenge, it’s always a good idea to turn to the recommendations of legends – and if your tastes tend to align with those of Stephen King, you may want to consider using your Peacock subscription to check out the new miniseries Teacup.
Stephen King first posted on social media about the streaming horror show at the start of the month, but now that the full run is available to watch (the final two episodes arrived today), I figured this would be a great opportunity to highlight it. King wrote,
TEACUP: If you like FROM or LOST, I think you'll enjoy this. It's strange, creepy, claustrophobic, and scary. Beware the Gas Mask Man. Short episodes. All killer, no filler. (Peacock--bows October 10th)
The eight-episode series is based on the book Stinger by Robert R. McCammon and is set on an isolated ranch in rural Georgia. As peculiar events begin to occur locally, drawing neighbors together on the property, a mysterious man in a gas mask shows up and paints a circle around the area. The characters quickly discover that it’s a line that they definitely should not cross. The impressive cast includes Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, and Rob Morgan.
To draw a link between the show and the bibliography of Stephen King, I’d say that Teacup can be best compared to Under The Dome (the book, not the terrible CBS TV series that completely misses the point of the book). Explaining why would be saying too much prior to you getting invested in the show, but by the mid-point in run, you’ll definitely understand why I would put the two stories side by side.
With that, this latest edition of The King Beat has come to an end, but I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday for a brand new roundup of the biggest headlines out of the world of Stephen King. In the meantime, allow me to recommend catching up on all of the details regarding the slate of upcoming Stephen King adaptations – including Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey (set for release on February 2025), Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck (arriving in summer 2025), Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk (which has completed production), HBO's IT prequel series Welcome To Derry, and the MGM+'s series The Institute (which will start filming before the end of the year).
