Stephen King Is Entering the Vast Arena of Fantasy TV Shows

J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin have some competition coming in the world of big-name fantasy TV adaptations: Stephen King‘s 2022 best-seller Fairy Tale, originally planned as a feature film, is now coming to the small screen courtesy of A24. Director Paul Greengrass (News of the World, Jason Bourne), who was involved in the initial movie project, is still aboard, with J.H. Wyman (Fringe, Almost Human) joining as showrunner for the 10-episode series.

Deadline got the scoop on this news, reporting Greengrass’ original script “will be expanded” by Greengrass and Wyman, and that Greengrass will “likely” stay on in a directing capacity as well. The reason Fairy Tale didn’t work out as a film, the trade says, is that King’s 600-plus page novel was just too dang long to condense into a single movie. When Universal stepped away, that’s when producer Peter Rice (Saturday Night) and A24 decided to do a TV show instead.

The frequently adapted King is known for his super lengthy books, of course—but he almost always works in the horror genre. Fairy Tale is unusual in that it leans heavily into fantasy, although there are still horror elements present. The book’s cover blurb offers praise from none other than Guillermo del Toro, who calls it “a trip to a magical, terrifying land where wonders and horror are one.”

Here’s the official description of the story: “Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a horrific accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.”

So far there’s no word on what streamer or network will host the series, and it’s obviously too early to know anything about casting or when the premiere date might be. What do you think about a Fairy Tale series—and King’s work putting yet another adaptation into motion?

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