Stephen King Teases New ‘The Stand’ and ‘Salem’s Lot’ Adaptations

Devout Stephen King fans grew concerned upon hearing the author’s beloved IT novel was getting another adaptation, as many readers highly enjoyed the 1990 miniseries adaptation and didn’t need to see the story once again. Considering the film has gone on to become the highest grossing horror movie of all time, the author revealed there are talks of taking another crack at some of his others stories, including new adaptations of The Stand and Salem’s Lot.

The author revealed to Vulture, “There’s talk about doing The Stand as an extended TV series, possibly for Showtime or CBS All Access, and there’s been some interest in developing Salem’s Lot as a feature, probably because people are saying, ‘Well, we took an old miniseries called IT and turned it into a phenomenon, so maybe we can do it with something else.’ Nothing succeeds like excess!”

Fans of the author often speculate about which of his stories will be the next to receive an adaptation, regularly ruling out properties that have already been adapted. Seeing how successful the new version of IT was, it’s possible that even previous adaptations are fair game for a revival.

The original adaptation of Salem’s Lot came from Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper in 1979, but the poor production value of the miniseries resulted in an adaptation that is far less effective in 2017 than when it debuted. Another miniseries adaptation of the story came in 2004, which didn’t connect with fans. With those previous adaptations being nearly three hours long, a more concise feature-length movie might be more effective.

The apocalyptic horror fantasy story of The Stand came to life in the mid-’90s with a four-part miniseries to chronicle the massive story. While this adaptation had a much higher production value than Salem’s Lot, current shows like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead showcase just how passionate fans are of the genre, in addition to those shows’ budgets giving Hollywood productions a run for their money.