Stephen King's Salem's Lot Reboot Casts Lewis Pullman As Lead Actor

With production on the big screen re-adaptation of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot set to begin very soon The Hollywood Reporter brings word that the New Line horror movie has found its lead. According to the trade, Lewis Pullman (son of actor Bill Pullman) will take on the part of Ben Mears for the film. In the story, Mears returns to his childhood home Jerusalem's Lot while attempting to work on his next novel only to realize that a vampire has taken hold of the town. Other roles seemingly remain to be cast with King favorite Father Callahan, plus youngsters Danny and Ralphie Glick, and the big bad himself, Kurt Barlow, all unfilled as of yet.

Actor David Soul previously played the part of Ben Mears in the miniseries adaptation from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper back in 1979 with Rob Lowe taking on the role for the less well known TNT miniseries in 2004. Pullman is no stranger to the big screen though having previously appeared in genre films like The Strangers: Prey at Night and Bad Times at the El Royale, he can next be seen in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise and in the Amazon Prime original series Outer Range opposite Josh Brolin.

The new version of 'Salem's Lot will be written and directed by Gary Dauberman who previously dabbled in the Maine-set worlds of Stephen King when he wrote the two IT movies for New Line Cinema. Though best known for screenwriting Dauberman did make his feature debut as a director with 2019's Annabelle Comes Home.

"I did have a unique way into it but again, I think the book in itself is unique," Dauberman said to EW in 2019 when it was revealed he was writing the project. "Certainly now, I haven't seen a scary vampire movie in a long, long time and I'd really love to tackle that. It's one of my favorite books. It's one of my favorite Stephen King books. We felt it should have the cinematic treatment that we gave It. It was a miniseries as well. The experience of bringing that to the big screen was such a joy that I was so happy we will have the opportunity to do that for Salem's Lot."

No release date for the new 'Salem's Lot has been announced yet but production is scheduled to begin next month.