'The Shining' Sequel 'Doctor Sleep' Release Date Revealed

Director Mike Flanagan's newest project, a film adaptation of The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, has had its release date moved up from January 2020 to November 8, 2019.

Warner Bros. announced the news Thursday along with the release dates of several other highly-anticipated projects, including Matt Reeves' The Batman (June 25, 2021), a film adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel The Witches (October 16, 2020), and DC Super Pets (May 21, 2021), according to Deadline.

Doctor Sleep had previously been slated for a January 24, 2020 wide release.

News of the fast-paced production comes just days after Flanagan, who also helmed Netflix's popular horror series The Haunting of Hill House, revealed that Doctor Sleep was now in the process of being edited. In an update in December, he informed fans that filming for Doctor Sleep had wrapped.

"So that's a wrap on DOCTOR SLEEP! It's been a long, crazy, truly unique experience," he wrote. "I read the novel as soon as it came out back in 2013, fascinated and moved by the epic story of Dan Torrance and Abra Stone, but I never imagined for a moment that I'd be the person to bring it to the big screen. It's been an honor to spend the last five months with this fantastic cast and crew, and to be trusted with Stephen King's extraordinary story. One of the highlights of my career, without a doubt."

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, Doctor Sleep acts as a sequel to the cult classic novel The Shining, which in turn got a novel-to-screen adaptation in the '80s under director Stanley Kubrick. The novel hit store shelves in 2013 and follows a grownup Danny Torrance, the son of Jack Torrance, who "carries the trauma of the Overlook Hotel into adulthood."

Like his father, Danny struggles with alcoholism and anger management, though he eventually comes to embrace sobriety and settles down in New Hampshire, where he develops a psychic link with a 12-year-old girl named Abra Stone. After realizing they have similar powers, Danny "tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knots who prey on children with powers to remain immortal."

The film is set to star Ewan McGregor in the lead role of Danny Torance, with includes Rebecca Ferguson, Zahn McClarnon, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Alex Essoe, and Bruce Greenwood rounding out the cast.

Doctor Sleep is set to premiere in theaters on Friday, November 8, 2019.