Mike Flanagan’s New Horror Remake Has To Deal With 1 of the Biggest Stephen King Changes Ever

Mike Flanagan‘s new horror remake has a lot of promise, but it must grapple with one of the biggest Stephen King changes ever — and it won’t be easy to overcome. Flanagan is no stranger to bringing King’s books to the screen; his takes on Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck can attest to that. The horror director will also tackle Carrie and The Dark Tower, and he recently added yet another King project to his to-do list.

While many of King’s books have been adapted multiple times over the years, Flanagan’s newly announced film is a bit surprising. That’s because it’s taking on a King book that has a fairly iconic movie adaptation already, along with a panned TV series. And part of what makes the film so legendary is that it introduces a book change that improves on the source material. Even King himself is a fan. The change is so well regarded that Flanagan’s take will inevitably have trouble dealing with it.

Mike Flanagan’s Take on The Mist Must Be Different From Frank Darabont’s Version

Flanagan is adapting The Mist for Warner Bros., marking the third rendition of the Stephen King novella to grace the screen in the last 20 years. And Frank Darabont’s 2007 film gives Flanagan’s upcoming project big shoes to fill. It does an incredible job of capturing the true terror of King’s story, which wildly enough, isn’t the creatures in the mist (though it handles them well, too). The film conveys how high-stress situations can lead humans to groupthink with disastrous consequences. It also captures the horror of being trapped without any knowledge of what’s happening in the outside world.

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And while Flanagan should aim for a fairly faithful take on King’s book, it will need to set itself apart from the 2007 film to justify a second adaptation. It appears the filmmaker understands this, as he replied to concerned fans on Bluesky, telling them, “I love Darabont’s film, and there’s zero point in remaking it. Which is why I’m going in a different direction.” That’s a relief to hear, but Flanagan might be in a no-win situation either way. He’ll need to deal with the detail that makes Darabont’s The Mist such a standout: its ending, which alters King’s work in the bleakest and best possible way.

The New Mist Adaptation Will Need to Grapple With the 2007 Movie’s Massive Stephen King Change

2007’s The Mist is a great film throughout, but it’s best known for its gutting ending, which clears up the ambiguity of the novella — and makes the story much more tragic. The original tale concludes with David Drayton, his son Billy, and a couple other survivors leaving the supermarket they’ve been stuck in and driving into the mist. They hope to find safety in Hartford, but we never learn if they do…and David even notes that they won’t make it very far without needing to stop for gas, thus putting themselves at risk.

Darabont’s film ends without the element of hope, as the group attempting to escape actually runs out of gas. Realizing there’s no safety and they’re all going to die anyway, David winds up shooting everyone in the car, including his son — but he doesn’t have enough bullets to end his own life. And as this realization dawns, and David tries to give himself up to the monsters instead, the military arrives to save the day. If he’d just waited, they all could have made it to safety. It’s a devastating way to wrap the film, and King admitted in a 2007 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment that he “thought that was terrific.”

Apparently, so did viewers, as this is the detail about The Mist movie that gets the most attention, almost two decades later. Flanagan’s comments about his own project make it sound like he won’t repeat this twist, and that makes sense, as it’d risk feeling unoriginal. However, it’s going to be difficult to top Darabont’s conclusion without leaning into something too over-the-top. And sticking to King’s original script all but guarantees it won’t pack as much of a punch. It puts Flanagan in a predicament no matter what he does.

If Anyone Can Overcome One of the Biggest & Best Stephen King Changes, It’s Mike Flanagan

Darabont’s movie presents any future take on The Mist with a dilemma, but if anyone can overcome it, it’s Flanagan. The creator has proven adept at adapting horror stories, whether he’s altering them significantly (The Haunting of Hill House) or with fidelity (Gerald’s Game). He’s proven he knows how to tackle King’s work, too, and he’s given viewers no reason to doubt him yet. Therefore, I have confidence he’ll find a way to make The Mist feel fresh without lessening the impact of the former film.

How do you think Mike Flanagan’s The Mist should handle its ending? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!