As much as everyone would like to think otherwise, not all ofStephen King’s movie adaptations are good. In fact, before the recent craze that took Hollywood by storm and is still going on, the body of work by the author had only been properly adapted into a handful of films. Sure, some of them were genre classics, but still, there were only a few.
Recently, that has changed. At the same pace as King’s releasing his written works (he was never as prolific as today), movie theaters and streaming platforms are knocking it out of the park with release after release. The best thing about it? Most of them are actually very good. Some would call it the renaissance ofKing’s cinematic universe.
However, with such a peculiar way of writing, it seems natural that some of King’s work is better suited for television. More running time means more opportunities to expand the way the author does things whenever he needs to inject substance into the story. Series, but most of all, miniseries, are the format where, ideally, King’s catalog could be adapted in full form without much intervention. To prove this point, here’s a list of films that would work better as a modern miniseries.
Needful Things (1993)
Needful Thingstells the story of the residents of Castle Rock, Maine, whose lives change when a strange man named Leland Gaunt arrives. He’s a business owner, and his new store is called “Needful Things.” He sells “novelties,” but they’re specially made for the residents. The trading card they always wanted or an autograph by their favorite artist. There’s something for everyone. Only the price varies, and it’s usually something they can do for Gaunt. It always implies hurting someone else.
Why Needful Things Would Work Better as a Miniseries
The story inNeedful Thingsbelongs to the group of King’s books about small-town dynamics being disrupted by an alien entity. And history has proven that those stories work better if character development is thoroughly expanded with numerous episodes. Also, it would be great to see Leland Gaunt’s story properly told.The guy is the Devil, but he’s charismatic enough to be compelling.
Rent on Prime Video
Firestarter (1984)
InFirestarter, Andy McGee is forced to escape with his daughter Charlie after her mother, Vicky, gets murdered by a government agency called The Shop. Andy and Vicky participated in some of their experiments years ago, and now Charlie is being sought because she acquired telekinetic powers. Charlie’s ability makes her a target, but Andy refuses to let her go, and they run away from the agents.
Why Firestarter Would Work Better as a Miniseries
The new adaptation ofFirestarterwas a terrible mishap for movie mogul Jason Blum, even thoughKing liked it more than the original. It wasn’t very well-written, and it turned out to be a boring version of King’s bestseller. Making it a modern miniseries would give audiences the chance to expand on the past, an important aspect of the story that always felt lacking. Also, it could be adapted into a police procedural with all the tropes that make the format a successful one.
Related:10 Performances in Stephen King Movies That Are Massively Underrated
It, andIt Chapter Two, told the story of the Derry gang who dared to face their biggest fear. Chapter 1 depicts their teen years, when, as children, they were forced to fight against the entity that showed itself as Pennywise, the clown who liked to eat kids. In the second chapter, they have to come back 27 years later to prevent Pennywise from terrorizing Derry again.
Why We Think the Story Would be Better as a Modern Miniseries
It’s a mammoth of a book. It’s just too much content to compress into one or two feature films. Dividing into two films, as long as they were, may have worked for Warner Bros. since the film became the highest-grossing horror film of all time. Butthere were too many differencesbetween the book and the film adaptations. It had already been adapted into a miniseries, only it was shorter than the modern films put together. A prequel miniseries is coming, but not much is known about it.
Carrie (1976)
Brian De Palma’sCarrietells the story of poor teenager Carrie White, who, upon becoming a grown woman, suffers the contempt of everyone at school and her religious mother as well. This forces Carrie to use prom night as the perfect day for revenge, when the last prank is played on her and Bates High School suffers the wrath of the girl who said “enough is enough.” Using telekinetic powers, Carrie installs hell on earth.
Why We Want to See Carrie Remade Into a Miniseries
Carriehas been modernized a couple of times, with a sequel coming out in 1999, a TV movie in 2002 and a Hollywood remake in 2013. As decent as some of them are, they can’t be compared to De Palma’s ’70s classic. King’s book is quite short, but in a miniseries, audiences could find out about Margaret White’s roots and the trauma thatmade her the worst mother ever. Also, a TV show taking place at a high school is always popular.
Stream on Max
The Shining (1980)
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece,The Shining, is a horror classic that tells the story of the Torrance family as they get isolated in a remote hotel for the winter. They’ve been hired as caretakers, but all Jack wants to do is finish his novel. Unfortunately, his own demons from the past and ghosts residing in the Overlook Hotel make him a sociopath who wants to kill his family.
Why The Shining Should be Made Into a Modern Miniseries
King’sdislike for Kubrick’s versionofThe Shiningis well-known. It drove him to make his own version in miniseries format in 1997 with Mick Garris. Now, that one isn’t perfect, but at least it’s closer to what King tried to express with his novel. Doing a modern version of it sounds inevitable because of bigger budgets and better production value. Besides, it’s creatively exploitable, as what the film lacked was precisely a better understanding of what made Jack what he ended up being.
The Dark Tower (2017)
The Dark Tower
In the film version ofThe Dark Tower, four screenwriters tried to compress more than seven books into a 95-minute movie. The result is the story of Roland Deschain, a gunslinger whose only objective is to protect the Dark Tower from The Man in Black. Jake Chambers also joins Roland in trying to keep the balance in the universe, as the Tower is the center of all dimensions.
Why The Dark Tower Needs a Miniseries Adaptation
How about a lot of miniseries?The Dark Toweris King’s work that could be told in a broader format, and the film adaptation is proof of that. It was messy, inconsistent, and poorly written. This series of books needs to be on television because it’s just too massive. Stephen King visionaryMike Flanagan has expressed his interestin doing something, but so far the project is still dead.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption
Thehighest-rated film on IMDb,The Shawshank Redemption, is inspired by King’s novellaRita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,and it tells the incredible story of a man convicted to spend his life in prison and the lengths he will go to stay sane. To say more would mean breaking the golden rule of spoilers, and it’s a reality that some people still haven’t seen the Frank Darabont film.
Why The Shawshank Redemption Would Work Better as a Miniseries
A Shawshank miniseries would be a great way to re-explore the original story from a modern perspective, given the fact that some elements of the story would have to stay because of pure logic. As great as Darabont’s film is in this regard, a miniseries would also expand on the dynamics of the prison because of the extremely high dramatic value of this part of the story.
Stream on Tubi
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Doctor Sleep
Doctor Sleepis the sequel toThe Shining, both in book and film format, as improbable as that sounds. In the film, Danny Torrance is now an adult going through his own ordeal with alcoholism. But willing to start over again, he comes in contact with his power to “shine” and thus discovers a group of nomads who travel across the country pillaging and sucking the souls out of people. He takes it upon himself to fight them.
Why Doctor Sleep Should be a Modern Miniseries
It’s impossible not to see it connect with a miniseries inspired byThe Shining. Besides, it would give showrunners the chance to develop the storyline about the “vampires” in rich detail and explore their past. Also, Danny and Abra’s relationship is so special that it would be a major plot in the miniseries, which would prove further why the sequel’s story is, in some ways,more interesting thanThe Shining’s.
The Green Mile (1999)
The Green Mile
Once again, Frank Darabont adapting a Stephen King novel. InThe Green Mile, Paul Edgecomb is the leader of the guards that work on a penitentiary’s death row called “The Green Mile.” When a new convict arrives, the group discovers that there’s much more to him than just a humble man who’s afraid to die. To call John Coffey’s abilities “superpowers” is an understatement.
Why We Picked The Green Mile
With a miniseries, more character development would mean we would get to know everyone’s backstories, andThe Green Mileis one of the Stephen King movies that, as long as it is (189 minutes), would benefit from a longer cut where secondary characters are explored further. Besides, it’s great to imagine who would play the vicious Percy Wetmore,one of the most evil charactersin Stephen King’s movieverse.
Related:10 Incredibly Underrated Stephen King Movies You May Have Missed
Graveyard Shift (1990)
Graveyard Shiftis one of Stephen King’s most obscure movies and tells the story of John Hall, a worker in a mill who clashes with the sadistic factory manager who has hired an exterminator to get rid of a rat infestation. The problem is that Hall and his partners find that rats aren’t the only problem.
Why Graveyard Shift Would Work Better as a Miniseries
The film’s story is a curious selection from the collectionNight Shift, released in 1978. Considering all the other stories in the book, this simply looks better as a miniseries where each episode has a different story. Add a frame story for all those, and you get something much better than the 1990 film that has a0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
To keep exploring the universe of Stephen King, here’s a video on the darkest endings of his film adaptations:
