Blumhouse Finds Its “Firestarter” for Stephen King Reboot in American Horror Story Star

Ever since the project was officially announced by Blumhouse Productions, horror fans have wondered who would star in their new adaptation of Stephen King‘s Firestarter, with the studio confirming today that Charlie would be played by American Horror Story and The Tomorrow War actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong, per Deadline. Production on the project kicked off last month and also stars the previously announced Zac Efron and Michael Greyeyes. Blumhouse also revealed the first look at Armstrong as the young girl with pyrokinetic abilities, which you can see below. The new Firestarter doesn’t currently have a release date and likely won’t hit theaters until 2022.

What made audiences so excited to find out who would play Charlie in the new film is that the role was previously played by a young Drew Barrymore in the 1984 adaptation of the novel, which also starred George C. Scott.

The new film will be directed by Keith Thomas, who delivered audiences The Vigil earlier this year, from a script by Scott Teems.

Thomas shared earlier this year how he aims to not only honor the source material, but also the previous adaptation.

“It’s something I’ve thought a lot about,” Thomas explained to ComicBook.com. “And, certainly, when the project first came to me, I was very lucky in that the script by Scott Teems, who wrote the upcoming Halloween Kills, was just very, very good, and very rich. The material itself isn’t different, right? I mean, it’s the same book that this film is drawing from, the one the earlier film did. But what we’re leaning into from the book is different. That’s the angle where you can do something. So, for me, it was really leaning into more emotional aspects. It was leaning into parenthood and what that looks like, and then, how do you raise a child, especially a child with abilities like this. That was the place the script went and I thought that it was something that’s a little different than the original film.”

He added, “Also, the book’s super rich. There’s a lot of stuff that’s in the book that isn’t in the original film. There’s stuff in there that we’re using, that we’re going into. At the same time, I feel like, just for me, in terms of the films I’m interested in, I feel like there’s a visceral quality to the story that I didn’t see in the ’80s version, a rawness that I think is there in the book, that I certainly felt, that I’m really interested in diving into. And, luckily, I think everybody else involved feels the same way, that this is going to be … not only will it have the effects and you’re going to get to see all the stuff Charlie can do, which is fun, and cool, and exciting, but if we do it right, it’s not so much as dark as The Vigil, but you should come out of it emotional. If you do it right, it’s going to really hit that way.”

Stay tuned for details on the new Firestarter.

Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars.