The Series Adaptation of Stephen King's LISEY'S STORY Lands a Director
Apple is currently developing a series adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story. The series will star Julianne Moore, and the Boston Globe is reporting that Pablo Larrain (Jackie) will direct the episodes.
J.J. Abrams is producing the series through his Bad Robot Productions, and King is writing the scripts for all eight episodes. This is actually a great thrilling story, and I have no doubt it will make a great series! For those of you not familiar with the story, here’s the description from the book:
"Two years after her husband's death, Lisey Landon decides it's time to go through his office to clear out his papers. Scott Landon was a bestselling novelist and Lisey has been besieged by people wanting to buy any of his unpublished work but she is determined not to let that happen. As she begins the process of cleaning, she is contacted by an unsavory character who claims that if she does not turn over the papers, he will make her suffer the consequences. Finding strength she did not know she had and never used during their marriage, Lisey refuses, and true to his word, 'Zack McCool' begins to stalk her. Lisey begins to remember strange events from her marriage that she had suppressed and finds clues that may help save her life."
I’m glad this story is getting the longform series instead of a film. It will work better as a show. When talking about adapting the book with Variety back in 2017, King said:
"Lisey’s Story is my favorite of the books and I would love to see that done, especially now that there’s a kind of openness on the streaming services on TV and even the cable networks. There’s more freedom to do stuff now and when you do a movie from a book, there’s this thing that I call the sitting on a suitcase syndrome.
"That is where you try to pack in all the clothes at once and the suitcase won’t close, so you just sit on it until it latches. And sometimes when it comes down on the baggage carousel, it busts open and your dirty laundry is everywhere. So it’s tough to take a book that is fully textured and has all the wheels turning and do it in two hours and 10 minutes. But as a TV show you have 10 hours, there’s always the possibility of doing something like The Handmaid’s Tale, which is extraordinary.”
I can’t wait to see how this series adaptation of Lisey’s Story turns out. If you haven’t read the book yet, you should check it out!