While at a special reading of King’s new book Under the Dome, during a Q&A session Stephen King let it be known that he is planning a sequel to The Shining and will be calling it Doctor Sleep.
“Then King dropped a fan bombshell on the crowd by casually describing a novel idea he began working on last summer,” writes Toronto IST. “Seems King was wondering whatever happened to Danny Torrance of The Shining, who when readers last saw him was recovering from his ordeal at the Overlook Hotel at a resort in Maine with fellow survivors Wendy Torrance and chef Dick Halloran (who dies in the Kubrick film version). King remarked that though he ended his 1977 novel on a positive note, the Overlook was bound to have left young Danny with a lifetime’s worth of emotional scars. What Danny made of those traumatic experiences, and with the psychic powers that saved him from his father at the Overlook, is a question that King believes might make a damn fine sequel.
Stephen King has probably had the most success as a writer turned to film as far as the diversity of his products. I’d wager Rowling’s Potter adaptations have made more cash than all of King’s adpatations, but Rowling has one franchise, while King has had a wide range of books brought to the big screen. Most of the adaptations based on his books have been successful and well received.
While any movie adaptation of this sequel is an assumed inevitability, this could easily be a great unexpected sequel. I felt that King wrapped up the story very well in the first part and it doesn’t need a sequel, but done right any sequel would be welcome.
However I would be happier if King just forced the issue of making a Dark Tower movie (or my preferred format – HBO Tv series) instead.
