Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck to Star Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan is returning to the world of Stephen King, as he’s been tapped to direct an adaptation of the short story “The Life of Chuck” from the anthology book If It Bleeds, as confirmed by Deadline. If this news wasn’t exciting enough, the outlet confirmed that the project has added both Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill as stars. This marks the second story from the anthology book to be adapted into a feature film, as “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” from that same collection was brought to life for Netflix last year. A release date for the project has yet to be released.

The outlet describes the project as being “three separate stories linked to tell the biography of Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death from a brain tumor at 39 and ending with his childhood in a supposedly haunted house.” The outlet also notes that, rather than being the abjectly terrifying experience that King is known to deliver, the film will instead channel the spirit of King adaptations like The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me. 

Flanagan previously delivered audiences the Stephen King adaptation Gerald’s Game in 2017, a project that many fans thought would be too challenging to ever be brought to life, which paved the way for him to tackle another ambitious effort by developing an adaptation of Doctor Sleep. With that film being tasked with serving as an adaptation of the novel Doctor Sleep but also as a sequel to the cinematic The Shining, Flanagan navigated those challenges for a project that was largely a hit with fans. 

The Life of Chuck is only the latest King project that Flanagan is tackling, with another highly anticipated King project being a new take on the beloved The Dark Tower. After previously having a partnership with Netflix, Flanagan made the jump to Amazon Studios last year, which is expected to be the home of the new Dark Tower project.

“Predating our deal with Amazon, we acquired the rights to The Dark Tower, which if you know anything about me, you know it has been my Holy Grail of a project for most of my life,” Flanagan shared with Deadline last December about the project. “We actually have those rights carved out of our Amazon deal, which doesn’t mean that they can’t or won’t get behind it at some point — you don’t know. But that’s something we’ve been developing ourselves and are really passionate about finally getting it up on its feet at some point.”

Stay tuned for details on Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck and The Dark Tower.

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