Stephen King's novels have kept readers up long into the night with engaging characters and frightening moments playing across the theater of their minds. Some of King's adaptations have been successful but not all, as they fail to capture the essence of the stories on film. He layers his work with nostalgia, nuance, and emotions. He takes his time telling his stories, but that doesn't always come across on screen.
Why compress them into a two-hour film or four-hour miniseries when they would work better as a limited or seasonal television series? King has plenty of classic works that are fit for TV and the modern era of streaming.
'The Running Man': Health Care and Reality-TV
Published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, The Running Man was tapped for a big-screen adaptation, but the source material is much darker fare. There's a world between the pages that's not so far from our own. The film wasn't wrong about reality television, but the characters and actions taken in the book weren't given notice. The film took the germ of King's idea and turned it into a spectacle.
Ben Richards has to go to terrifying lengths to raise money for his daughter's medical bills. The story is still relevant to this day: time could be taken to explore the American healthcare system and the nature of reality television. It could be an examination of how society has failed the most vulnerable and sates itself on the misfortunes of others.
'Insomnia': Visions of the Crimson King
Insomnia is set in Derry, Maine, a place all King-readers dread. Ralph Roberts, an elderly widower, is suffering from a titular illness. The longer he goes without sleep, the more strange things he sees: people with auras, little bald doctors wandering about, and a terrifying king clad in crimson. There is mystery aplenty as the story confronts ongoing topics like abortion, higher realities, and the meaning of death.
The novel is tied peripherally into The Dark Tower series and his 1986 novel, It. What is most interesting is the choice of an older character for the story's lead. That might not fly in a big-budget feature, but a series? A perfectly cast actor could shoulder a tale of exploration, wonder, and terror.
'From a Buick 8': King's Other Scary Car
Told as a series of recollections based around something that looks like a 1953 Buick Roadmaster, From a Buick 8 could work as an anthology series with the car as the only returning character from episode to episode. Anthology films can be brilliant, but some don't work as well as possible. But pull out the stops to adapt each recollection in the book? That could have a horror series with viewers coming back to see what happens next week.
Anthology television has, for the most part, disappeared from the television landscape, and this could make the show stand out with scares, casting, and a connecting storyline. The key to all of King's stories is to take time with the character and build them up before plunging them into the extraordinary situations they find themselves in.
'The Gwendy Trilogy': Such Wonders and Terrors
Written with Richard Chizmar, the Gwendy Trilogy tells the story of Gwendy Peterson from childhood in Castle Rock to her adulthood as an author and congresswoman. Her encounters with the enigmatic Mr. Farris and his powerful button box throughout her life add twists of wonder and horror to her existence.
The novels move from moments of joy to terror. With the right casting, pacing, and investment by both the production company and the audience, the storyline could follow Gwendy over three seasons. It could take time to develop characters and their intricacies and touch on the history of the iconic King town.
'The Institute': Kids and a Conspiracy
King knows how to write kids. The Institute centers on Luke Ellis, a boy with a gift that could tie him to some of King's other works. After his parents are killed, he's taken to the Institute to be studied and researched. He's not the only kid there, and all of them are seeking a way out.
The exploration of Luke's life, the conspiracy that springs up around it, and the events leading to the story's climax could make for a very engaging series. It's a story that shouldn't be rushed but doled out over a series and not compressed into a theatrical film.
'Needful Things': Small Town, Big Secrets
The definitive Castle Rock novel. The film missed opportunities because of the format, compressing a 700-page book into a two-hour. This is a novel that begs for a television adaptation. The relationships between the characters develop, there are subplots aplenty, and at its center is the beguiling and troublesome storefront that is Needful Things.
A series would allow the exploration of the darkness and the kindness of the human soul even as the store bestows its "gifts" on the town's residents. Castle Rock is an interesting place to read about, but would you want to live there?
'The Long Walk': A Violent Coming-of-Age Story
Of all King's books, The Long Walk is the one that could be compressed into a two-hour film. A limited series would allow an exploration of the world King created under his Bachman pseudonym.
A dystopian America sees Ray Garraty, a teenager, taking on the annual Long Walk. One hundred boys take part, walking without stopping, maintaining a constant speed of no less than four miles per hour. They are walking to win "The Prize." There are shocks aplenty as the characters interact and struggle onwards. For a four or six-episode series, this could be must-see television.
'Firestarter': More Sizzle Less Fizzle
Pairing this title with The Institute may be a great way to launch a Firestarter series. The theatrical attempts, to date, haven't captured the nuances of the novel and the characters' interactions. The film versions take the idea and parts of the setting but set aside most of little Charlie McGee's actual story.
Admittedly, the novel is dated by today's standard, but updating with a connection to The Institute could be a way to tie parts of the King-verse together. There is a powerful coming-of-age story in the pages of both tales, and marrying them may be the best way forward for either story on the small screen.
'The Talisman': A Journey of Fantasy and Discovery
Written with Peter Straub, The Talisman and its sequel Black House would make for an epic television series. Especially the first novel. It combined fantasy, horror, coming-of-age (one of the hallmarks of King's writing), and as confirmed in the second novel, ties with The Dark Tower.
The story follows young Jack Sawyer on a fantastic cross-country (and reality) quest to find a way to save a queen and his mother. There are terrors aplenty, misadventures, and a very loyal friend in the character of Wolf. This is a tale that could be told over a season or more, exploring the nooks and crannies of the realms Jack finds himself in. A story not to be rushed, but to be drawn out and savored, something that most film adaptations of King's work have failed to do.
'The Dark Tower': "...and the Gunslinger Followed."
Of all King's work, this is the series that the fans want. Game of Thrones worked until it got ahead of its source material. The source material for The Dark Tower has been written; eight epic novels and a short story. A fantasy-western that interacts with our and all realities. It brushes up against other King works and has a fight for the safety of the universe, all while Roland Deschain, The Gunslinger, pursues The Man In Black.
With scripts, casting, and a healthy length of time for pre-production and visual effects, a multiple-season series could shoot back to back. It would be a huge investment, but the payoff could be even more significant as audiences would clamor to see Roland mount the stairs of the Tower.