Stephen King Teases His Alternate ‘Pet Sematary’ Reboot Ending

The works of Stephen King have been adapted into dozens of different films and TV series, with various adaptations taking liberties with the source material to deliver audiences an unexpected outcome. Having merely seen the trailer for the new Pet Sematary, fans noticed that the filmmakers made key changes to the original narrative, leading towards various other tweaks to the entire ending. King himself supported this change to the narrative and even offered up his own input on a potential alternate ending that he would have liked to have seen in the film, as it would have teased the possibility of hope.

WARNING: Mild spoilers for Pet Sematary

The film focuses on a family who discovers that, by burying a loved one in a nearby cemetery, the body comes back to life. Unbeknownst to them, these people don’t come back the same, with the new film exploring how the young daughter Ellie returns from the grave with deadly intentions. King noted that he would have liked to have seen the new film depict the family’s youngest member, Gage, finding salvation with a new family.

“I talked about an ending where Gage is walking up the middle of the road. We see dawn, and we hear a truck coming, and think, ‘Oh my God, he’s gonna get greased in the road. That’s how this is gonna end!’” King revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “Then at the last second, this woman pulls him out of the road and rescues him, and says, ‘Where’s your mommy and daddy?’”

Fans of the book would recognize that the potential of Gage getting hit by a truck would tie into the original novel, which would surely take audiences by surprise.

“And that’s how you end the thing,” King shared of his suggestion. “But … that isn’t what they show.”

Interestingly, King previously revealed that he tends to prefer the adaptations of his works that stick close to what he published.

“I think that they’re the best when they stick close to the books because, I don’t know, I feel a proprietary interest in that,” King shared with the Associated Press in 2017. “I always think that some of the adaptations that don’t work that well are ones where they buy the concept, the basic concept, but then say well yes but we’ll do this, that and the other thing to it. So I always feel a little bit like they bought my launching pad and put their own rocket up, and sometimes the rocket explodes… The ones that I like the best are the ones where they stick close to the story and where I see changes and things that have been altered and I say to myself, “I wish I’d thought of that.”

Pet Sematary is in theaters now.

Would you have preferred to see King’s ending? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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