The much-anticipated sequel to Stephen King’s classic The Shining is starting to round into shape. According to an exclusive report by Deadline, Carl Lumbly (A Cure for Wellness) and Alex Essoe (Dark Intentions) have signed on to the upcoming film Doctor Sleep. This will be a continued telling of the events after Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece The Shining (which King himself famously loathed.) Warner Bros is hoping that Sleep can capture the same magic that made the original a runaway hit back in 1980.
Lumbly will play Dick Halloran (the role Scatman Crothers portrayed in the original), while Essoe will play Shelley Duvall’s character Wendy Torrance. Doctor Sleep will take place far removed from the events of the first film, with Danny Torrance now an adult and struggling to come to grips with both his psychic powers as well as a murderous cult that is out to steal his power for their own dangerous reasons. Ewan McGregor has already been announced for the project, as he will portray the grown-up Danny. Rebecca Ferguson (2017’s Life) will also be involved, heading up the role of the villainous Rose The Hat. Mike Flanagan will direct. Flanagan is no stranger to the horror genre, having previously directed the films Oculus, Hush and Ouija: Origin of Evil.
The source material for Doctor Sleep will be Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, which is a direct sequel to the 1977 book. Flanagan rewrote the screenplay, which will pick up with the adult Danny battling everything from his alcoholism to the horrifying memories of what went down with his father decades before at the Overlook Hotel. The presence of Dick and Wendy in the film present a unique view of the future, especially since Halloran was graphically murdered with an axe in Kubrick’s film. In the original novel, however, that character survives the dark events circling the Torrance family. There are many cool possibilities that are at play with this new story, including the unveiling of an entire community of those that “shine.”
No further details have yet been announced by Warner Bros regarding Doctor Sleep, and the anticipated release date for the film is sometime in 2020. Fun fact: The Shining (which would go on to gross $45 million at the box office) was released in 1980 just two weeks after another horror film considered to be a classic in the genre….Friday the 13th. But as Joe Bob Briggs proclaims, “which film had the greater impact? EIGHT sequels…I rest my case.”
Stay tuned to HNN for more news on Doctor Sleep as it breaks!
