New Adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Half Being Developed

The train on new Stephen King adaptations left the station in 2017 after WB’s reboot of IT became the highest grossing horror movie of all time. Since then, adaptations of Gerald’s Game and 1922 debuted on Netflix, plus a new Pet Sematary, IT: Chapter Two, Doctor Sleep, and In the Tall Grass, with adaptations of ‘Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, and From a Buick 8 all in development. Now we can add another title to that list as MGM will adapt the novel The Dark Half into a feature film once again.

Deadline first reported the news, revealing that Her Smell director Alex Ross Perry will step behind the camera and direct the project. The director’s other credits include psychological thriller Queen of Earth and dramedy Listen Up Philip. Based on the novel by King, the incredibly meta The Dark Half tells the tale of author Thad Beaumont whose books don’t sell very well when written under his own name. Beaumont also writes books under a pseudonym however, which happen to sell incredibly well. Eventually the connection is revealed and Beaumont holds a public “burial” for his alter-ego, only for people close to the author to end up dead at the hands of his pseudonym come to life.

The Dark Half is inspired by King’s own time writing novels under a pseudonym. With a variety of ideas at his disposal and hoping to not totally flood the market with his name, King wrote a number of books under the name Richard Bachman before it was revealed that these books were in fact King novels. The Dark Half was previously adapted into a feature film in 1993, written and directed by previous King collaborator George A. Romero. Timothy Hutton starred as the author and his double in the movie alongside Michael Rooker as frequently used King character Sheriff Alan Pangborn.

New Stephen King adaptations aren’t just limited to the big screen though as HBO will deliver their TV adaptation of The Outsider early next year. Ahead of its release, King called The Outsider one of the best adaptations of his work. The second season of the King anthology series Castle Rock is still rolling out new episodes on Hulu as well with adaptations of Lisey’s Story and The Stand also in development for the small screen.