If you thought it was safe to return to the mist, think again. Warner Bros. Pictures is officially getting the band back together, reuniting horror maestro Mike Flanagan with the King of Horror himself, Stephen King. Their latest project? A brand-new adaptation of the 1980 classic novella, The Mist.
High-Stakes Grocery Shopping
For those who missed the 1980 novella, the 2007 movie, or the 2017 TV show, here’s the gist: A thick, mysterious fog rolls into a small town in Maine. Sounds atmospheric, right? Wrong. The fog is packed with interdimensional beasties with a taste for townsfolk.
A group of survivors gets trapped in a local supermarket. But because this is a Stephen King story, the giant tentacles outside aren’t the only problem. Pretty soon, the social order collapses faster than a house of cards in a hurricane, leading to mob mentality, unhinged extremists, and the realization that humans are often way scarier than monsters with too many eyes.
Mike Flanagan: The “King” of Adaptations
This isn’t Flanagan’s first rodeo in the King-verse. He’s already proven he can handle the “unadaptable” with Gerald’s Game, a movie about a woman handcuffed to a bed, which is actually terrifying. Then there’s Doctor Sleep, which bridged the gap between King’s book and Kubrick’s film. There is also The Life of Chuck, which reminds us that King has a heart. At this point, Flanagan is basically the unofficial president of the Stephen King Fan Club, and honestly, we aren’t mad about it.
He’s also currently juggling a Carrie miniseries and the absolute behemoth that is The Dark Tower for Amazon. The man has as many King projects as Maine has pine trees.
Behind the Scenes
Flanagan will write and direct the screenplay and produce through his banner, Red Room, alongside Tyler Thompson, Gary Barber, and Chris Stone (Spyglass), as well as Alexandra Magistro (Executive Producer).
Why We’re Hyped
Flanagan is the King of “elevated horror”—he takes the blood and guts and adds a heavy dose of emotional trauma (the good kind!). Given how the 2007 film ended (no spoilers, but yikes), everyone is dying to see if Flanagan will stick to the novella’s ending or go for something even more soul-crushing. But can it actually get any more devastating than Frank Darabont’s adaptation? We don’t know, but we look forward to finding out.
