There Was a DOCTOR SLEEP Sequel in Development That Would Have Centered on Dick Hallorann

If Doctor Sleep would have actually done well at the box office, Warner Bros. would have moved forward on another sequel to The Shining that they were developing with director Mike Flanagan.

While Doctor Sleep was a great movie, most people flocked to the World War II film, Midway, which was a typical Roland Emmerich mediocre film. Doctor Sleep only made $14.1 million domestically and it was supposed to make around $30 million on its opening weekend, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Midway ended up taking in $17.5 million.

As a fan of The Shining and Doctor Sleep, I would have loved to see another story told! WB head Toby Emmerich struck a deal with Flanagan to develop a sequel called Hallorann and it would have focused on Dick Hallorann, who appeared in both The Shining and Doctor Sleep. The character was played by Scatman Crothers in The Shining and Carl Lumbly in Doctor Sleep.

It’s a shame that we won’t get to see this Hallorann movie get made. Dick Hallorann has an interesting history that not only connects to The Shining stories, but also to Stephen King’s It. Here are some details on the character:

Not much was known of Dick's early life, except that he likely was born in New Hampshire. As a little boy he mentioned he could hold conversations with his paternal grandmother without either of them moving their lips. When he grew up he joined the US Army and was eventually assigned to be a cook for Easy Company, a New Hampshire-based unit. Dick Halloran parlayed his cooking skills for the rest of his life, where he partnered with other men in his unit into starting up The Black Spot, which was a nightclub that mainly catered to black soldiers. Later he would get a job at the Overlook Hotel, eventually becoming their head chef.

In Doctor Sleep Dick shares his story to Danny about his paternal grandmother, Rose Hallorann, who shares Dick's Shine, and her brother, Andy:

Dick refers to them as "White Grandma" and "Black Grandpa" respectively (due to the color of their souls, not their skin color.) Black Grandpa would routinely mentally, physically and sexually abuse Dick. These abuses were kept secret and suspicions were allayed, because Black Grandpa had threatened Dick with a fairy-tale child-snatcher, Charlie Manx, so Dick never told his parents or White Grandma, and Black Grandpa had promised his fortune as a coffin-maker to Dick's family. However, after he dies, Black Grandpa leaves his fortune to a black orphanage in Alabama instead. Dick then has several Shining encounters with his Black Grandpa's naked and sexualized spirit, which beckons Dick to fornicate with him.

Dick to tell his White Grandma about these apparitions, she having already discovered Black Grandpa's abuses after his death. She teaches him how to "lock" bad shines like Black Grandpa into a mental lockbox. Dick passes this knowledge down to Danny in the form of a physical lockbox.

As I said, there’s a very interesting story to tell regarding Dick Hallorann, but that ship has sailed with the Doctor Sleep’s box office disappointment.

Source: THR