There has long been a great relationship between the works of Stephen King and the television miniseries medium. The second ever King adaptation was made in the format – Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot airing across two nights on CBS in 1979 – and in the 1990s fans saw the creation of excellence including IT, The Stand, The Langoliers, and Storm Of The Century (which the author himself has identified as his favorite small screen production).
Just last year Constant Readers saw the release of another terrific limited series, Lisey's Story on AppleTV+, and now the news has broken that another project is in the works – this one based on Stephen King's 2021 novel Later.
Deadline first reported the details of this development, noting that the limited series' pilot is being written by Raelle Tucker, whose writing and producing credits include titles like Supernatural, True Blood, and Marvel's Jessica Jones. Blumhouse Television is behind the small screen endeavor, and it's being created as a star vehicle for Lucy Liu, who has had a big presence on TV in recent years thanks to her roles on shows like Elementary and Why Women Kill.
Later is one of two Stephen King books that were released in 2021 – a continuation of the author's relationship with publisher Hard Case Crime, which previously put out 2005's The Colorado Kid (which inspired the SyFy series Haven) and 2013's Joyland. In the limited series, Lucy Liu will likely play Tia Conklin, a single mother and owner of a literary agency who finds herself facing destitution when her star client dies before completing his latest book. Fortunately, her son, Jamie, has the uncanny ability to communicate with the dead, and those he talks to have to answer his questions truthfully.
With Jamie's help, Tia is able to literally ghost write the dead author's final novel – though not every dealing with the afterlife has such positive outcomes.
For Blumhouse, this is one of multiple Stephen King adaptations in the works. They have produced the new film Firestarter starring Zac Efron, which is expected to be released later this year, and the company is also behind the upcoming Mr. Harrigan's Phone, which stars Jaden Martell and Donald Sutherland among others, and will be a Netflix original. Blumhouse is also presently developing a remake of Christine that has some very exciting names attached.
As for the development of Later, the trade report doesn't mention a timetable for the series or a distributor, so we'll just have to standby for that information. For now, you can keep track all of the Stephen King adaptations in the works with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide. You can also keep track of everything hitting the small screen in the coming months with our 2022 TV Premiere Calendar.
