Stephen King Reveals 'Lisey's Story' Is Novel He Wants Most To Be Adapted

08/31/2017 03:53 pm EDT

In 2017 alone, we are getting nearly half a dozen different live-action adaptations from the works of Stephen King, which includes both feature films and TV series. Despite this year being one of the most popular for the author, King himself revealed that, out of all his works, the novel he most wished would get a live-action adaptation is Lisey's Story.

When speaking with Variety, the author explained, "Lisey's Story is my favorite of the books and I would love to see that done, especially now that there's a kind of openness on the streaming services on TV and even the cable networks. There's more freedom to do stuff now and when you do a movie from a book, there's this thing that I call the sitting on a suitcase syndrome."

The author went on to elaborate upon his theory, detailing, "That is where you try to pack in all the clothes at once and the suitcase won't close, so you just sit on it until it latches. And sometimes when it comes down on the baggage carousel, it busts open and your dirty laundry is everywhere. So it's tough to take a book that is fully textured and has all the wheels turning and do it in two hours and 10 minutes. But as a TV show you have 10 hours, there's always the possibility of doing something like The Handmaid's Tale, which is extraordinary."

The synopsis of Lisey's Story is as follows:

"Lisey lost her husband Scott after a twenty-five-year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey knew there was a place Scott visited—a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live and create.

"Now, two years after Scott's death, it's Lisey's turn to face his demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the vast papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited."

Hitting theaters this past weekend was The Dark Tower, an adaptation of King's series of eight novels about Roland Deschain, the Man in Black, and the one structure keeping multiple dimensions from colliding with one another. The film received mostly poor reviews, with many critics citing the difficulties of adapting complex themes into one 95-minute movie. Using a term from King's dictionary, The Dark Tower definitely suffered from "sitting on a suitcase syndrome."

The author went on to discuss the challenges faced when adapting any story into a live-action project.

"I think it's good when they stick as close to the story as they can because that's what they bought," he warned. "You don't want to think they just bought the launching pad, but they bought the rocket, too."

Later this year, you can enjoy Stephen King adaptations like It, which hits theaters on September 8, and Gerald's Game, which will be coming to Netflix.

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.