In one of the more strange and unexpected news bits we’ve heard in a long while, it would appear that author and horror mastermind Stephen King has an idea for a potential sequel to his classic The Shining. Many would argue the book to be King’s best work and no one can deny that it is at least one of them; many others would argue that the movie based on the book was the best adaptation of his many titles — though it received a lot of negative reviews initially and even King himself openly admitted to hating it before it moved on to become one of the top horror movies ever to be made.
King made the subtle announcement while in Toronto reading some of his new book Under the Dome to a crowd at the Canon Theater. The writer was in no way announcing that a sequel would indeed happen, but he decided to share the ideas that he was actually playing around with in his head, including that he had a basic title in mind already: Doctor Sleep.
The basic gist of the story would go a little something like this: we would be reunited with young Danny Torrence, who would now be 40-years-old (Sadly, if a movie were to be made, Danny Lloyd hasn’t acted since then). Danny, a little messed up from a certain childhood experience and his nutjob father (Jack Nicholson), now works at a hospice and uses the powers he was seemingly developing at the Overlook Hotel to help the patients feel better and more comfortable as they begin approaching the last days of their lives.
From the sounds of it, King isn’t sure about the idea and remains rather open to not doing it. He admitted that the reason he was telling the crowd about it was for that very reason: “Maybe if I keep talking about it I won’t have to write it.”
Now, let’s find out the consensus — would you or would you not be open to a sequel? I personally have not read the book, but I do have it and plan to eventually. Even so, I think this sounds like it could be pretty interesting — almost like a fusion of The Shining and The Green Mile — and if he has a solid enough idea, he should run with it. King hasn’t had the best of success lately with original works, so maybe it is time for him to re-embrace some old characters of his and continue their stories.
[Source: FilmoFilia]
Oh please no. Ever since his near death experience his writing ability has gone to shit. The final book to the Dark Tower series is proof enough. Such a poor ending to the greatest story ever told. Anything new he writes as an addition to his previous work will do nothing more than discrace his best stories.
Ugh, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all, though it sure would sell a lot of copies, for sure.