Rebecca Ferguson Joins ‘The Shining’ Sequel ‘Doctor Sleep’

Following her breakout role in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Rebecca Ferguson has become one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. The actress’ good fortune continues, as she is reportedly in talks to join Doctor Sleep in an unknown role alongside Ewan McGregor‘s Danny Torrance.

Stephen King’s website describes the story, “Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Danny Torrance has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant ‘shining’ power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes ‘Doctor Sleep.’ Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival.”

It’s possible that Ferguson could play Abra, though that detail is yet to be confirmed. The film will be directed by Mike Flanagan, who gave audiences Oculus, Hush, and last year’s Stephen King adaptation Gerald’s Game.

King’s The Shining was published in 1977 and he delivered audiences the sequel in 2013. Director Stanley Kubrick adapted The Shining into a film in 1980 starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.

Despite Kubrick’s film earning an impressive reputation over the last few decades, King himself has been a vocal critic of the adaptation. In the ’90s, King teamed up with director Mick Garris to adapt that story into a TV miniseries.

“If you read the book first, that’s what it’s about, is the alcoholism and the humanity of a guy losing his humanity. That pressure cooker that’s going to blow, that this is a guy saddled by guilt and alcoholism,” Garris previously shared with ComicBook.com. “Whereas Kubrick’s film, at the time, I really was not a fan of the movie at all and I didn’t know anyone who was, but it resonated with young people like teenagers and everything.”

He added, “I recognize it now as a great Kubrick film, but a flawed King adaptation. At that time, that book was my favorite book of all time. I was thinking, ‘God, the genius of Stanley Kubrick and The Shining. This is going to be the scariest movie ever made.’”

Stay tuned for details on the development of Doctor Sleep.

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[H/T Variety]