Happy Thanksgiving, King Beat readers! This holiday, arriving just before the end of the calendar year, provides all of us the opportunity to take a look at our own lives and examine what we are grateful for – and in 2024, there was a whole lot to appreciate for Stephen King fans. Not only did we get a brand new book (the short story omnibus You Like It Darker published in May) and a brand new film adaptation (Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot premiered in October), but there was news of some outstanding developments that ensure a great number of exciting things are on the way in the years to come.
This holiday edition of The King Beat is here to celebrate the latter. Every week of this year has delivered some kind of Stephen King-related update (hence the existence of this column), but I’ve taken a look back at the last 11 months and singled out the best of the best – which is to say those that have affirmed King’s legacy and promised greatness in the future. There’s a whole lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!
As We Get To The End Of 2024, Let’s Reflect On The 13 Best Stephen King-Related Stories Of The Year
Looking back at all of the Stephen King-related news from 2024, I recalled the mixed emotions that came with the streaming release plans for Salem’s Lot and William Sadler’s revelation that he ad-libbed a line in The Shawshank Redemption that totally changes how we look at his character, but I decided to limit myself to highlighting the 13 best stories and the following are those that made the final cut.
Stephen King Finishes And Publishes A Short Story It Took Nearly 50 Years To Complete
You Like It Darker is an omnibus that is filled with a number of special stories, including the Cujo sequel “Rattlesnakes,” but the book’s final entry is arguably the most distinct as it took Stephen King nearly a half-century to finish it. The author first started writing “The Answer Man” in the 1970s, but the in-development work got lost. It was only recently rediscovered by his nephew, and it was apt that he would finish it decades later as the novella spans the full adult life of its protagonist.
The Life Of Chuck Has An Award-Winning World Premiere At The Toronto International Film Festival
Salem’s Lot was the only new Stephen King movie publicly released in 2024, but Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of The Life Of Chuck had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it’s now poised to make a huge splash in 2025. The feature won the festival’s coveted People's Choice Award, and it’s noteworthy that there is a direct correlation between titles that have earned that prize and gone on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Carrie Is In Development As A Miniseries From Prime Video From Mike Flanagan
Mike Flanagan has The Life Of Chuck on the way in 2025, and he is dedicated to making the best possible version of The Dark Tower, but his list of upcoming Stephen King projects doesn’t’ end there. As part of the filmmaker’s deal with Amazon Prime Video, he is making a new miniseries based on Carrie, and he has promised a new vision that offers something different than what we’ve seen from previous adaptations (which includes two theatrical films, a TV movie and a stage musical).
The Institute Survives Extended Development, Finds A Home On MGM+
Jack Bender spent years trying to find a home for his TV adaptation of The Institute as his Stephen King-related follow-up to the underrated series Mr. Mercedes, but it was only in recent months that the new small screen project got the greenlight from MGM+. The 2019 novel centers on a covert organization that abducts and experiments on kids with psychic abilities, and the show has moved quickly through development and with a cast that includes Mary Louise Parker and Ben Barnes, production will begin before the end of 2024.
One of the most marvelous things about Stephen King’s The Stand is its remarkable scope, as it’s able to balance the narratives of many complex characters – but as vast as the story is, it’s noteworthy that we only know about events that take place within the United States. That will soon change with the release of The End Of The World As We Know It: Tales Of Stephen King’s The Stand, which is a collection of short stories from a number of writers set within the canon of King’s epic. The new book will be published in 2025 and include multiple stories that take place outside of North America (including one in space).
Holly Gibney’s Story Will Continue In 2025 With Never Flinch
There was never really a question of “if” Stephen King would release a new book in 2025; there was only a question of what it would be about. It turns out that that it’s the latest adventure featuring the sweet, brilliant detective Holly Gibney. Originally titled Always Holly, Never Flinch is King’s third story with Holly as the main protagonist (following the novella “If It Bleeds” and 2023’s Holly), but the new tome will be King’s seventh featuring the character.
Having been thoroughly burned multiple times before, Stephen King fans have earned the anxiety that arrives with any mildly pessimistic news about adapting The Dark Tower – which is why it was great that Mike Flanagan clarified his future plans this summer. The filmmaker is committed to making the next installment of the Exorcist franchise, but he is doing so while comfortably keeping The Dark Tower cooking on the back burner, recognizing that it is a bear of a project to move through development.
Stephen King Reveals He Is Creatively Back In Mid-World/The Territories
The Talisman and Black House co-writer Peter Straub passed away in 2022, but he and Stephen King discussed a way to complete their fantasy/horror trilogy prior to his death, and King announced to fans this year that he has creatively re-entered that world. He hasn’t made any promises that it will turn into something, but it’s an exciting development nonetheless.
The Long Walk Screenwriter Confirms That The Adaptation Will Be Just As Dark As Fans Hope
It’s not difficult to grasp why it’s taken so many years for Stephen King’s The Long Walk to become a movie: it’s an exceptionally dark story that entirely centers on a collection of teenagers performing a death march disguised as a game/competition. As dark as it may be, however, screenwriter JT Mollner has promised that the upcoming adaptation from director Francis Lawrence isn’t going to pull any punches and is going to be the hardcore film that fans want to see.
The trailer for Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey wasn’t the only preview we got for a 2025 Stephen King project in recent months (we also got a very early look at HBO’s Welcome To Derry series), but the film stands out because it appears as though it is the first King adaptation made as a comedy. There are certainly funny and campy moments to find in other movies and TV shows, but Perkins appears to be breaking new ground by putting funny first with his follow-up to Longlegs, and fans will be able to enjoy it when The Monkey arrives in theaters on February 21, 2025.
Stephen King Wrote His First Animated Short, Which Premiered On Halloween
You’d think that Stephen King might be running out of creative “firsts” at this point in his career, but that particular well hasn’t run dry just yet – as evidenced by the fact that 2024 saw him write his first original animated short film. Released as part of a family friendly horror series called Dark Corners, King’s story Lily is about a shy young boy who makes a terrifying discovery after being excused from class to go to the bathroom.
Stephen King fans spent a long time not knowing what was going on with the adaptation of Fairy Tale. A movie with Paul Greengrass attached to write and direct made headlines when the book was first published in 2022, but it was only recently that we learned what has been going on with the project. It turns out that the idea of turning the novel into a feature was impossible, so instead of being a blockbuster released by Universal Pictures, Fairy Tale is now becoming a miniseries produced by A24.
Carrie Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary
This isn’t a ranked list, but as far as Stephen King’s legacy is concerned, there was no bigger event in 2024 than the 50th anniversary of King’s seminal novel. The story behind Carrie itself is legendary – with Tabitha King famously rescuing early pages of the story from the wastepaper basket and encouraging her husband to keep working on it – but it’s also brain-breaking to look at the author’s body of work in the half-century since its publication and the outsized impact that he has had on pop culture.
That brings us to an end of this week’s column, but as always, I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with another edition of King Beat and a reflection on everything going on in the world of Stephen King. In the meantime, you can explore the history of King in film and television with my series Adapting Stephen King.
