Having recently announced the details of their Apple+ streaming service, it’s clear that Apple are not messing around. They’re developing projects with big names and high-end talent, and are coming for Netflix’s throne. That ambition is only reinforced by their latest project.
Julianne Moore will star in an eight-episode adaptation of Stephen King‘s novel Lisey’s Story. If that isn’t exciting enough, King himself will pen all eight episodes. J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions are onboard to produce.
Lisey’s Story is best described as a horror-romance. The book – first published in 2006 – follows a woman named Lisey Landon, the widow of a best-selling novelist. Two years after her husband’s death, strange, repressed memories of him begin to float to the surface.
Moore being on board immediately makes this something worth seeking out. She’s consistently a powerhouse. King’s involvement is also a plus, although he doesn’t have the best track record of adapting his own work. He did write the screenplay for the 1989 Pet Sematary, but also penned the forgettable Shining mini-series.
However, it does help that Lisey’s Story is King’s favourite of his own books. He told Variety in 2017:
“Lisey’s Story is my favourite 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 […]
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”.
Obviously we are currently living in a King renaissance of sorts. After the incredible success of IT, King adaptations have been commissioned left and right. The new Pet Sematary just came out, The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep is coming, while there are also adaptations of The Tommyknockers, In The Tall Grass, The Outsider, The Talisman, and The Long Walk in the works.
The likelihood is that not all of those will be worthwhile. Apple will be hoping that Lisey’s Story is one of the good ones. The hunt for a high profile director to helm the series is reportedly underway.
#Peace.Love.LiseysStory
