Shining prequel The Overlook Hotel has a new director

The long-discussed (and often dreaded) film prequel to The Shining finally has a director. The Overlook Hotel will be directed by Mark Romanek, working from a script by former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Overlook Hotel will be based on Stephen King's original prologue to the novel. Though the material has never been published, King described it as "a sketchy history of the Overlook's construction" that details "a number of terrible events that had occurred there."

But that doesn't mean that King is eager to see his old material finally come to light. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, he was fairly downbeat about Overlook Hotel: "Am I eager to see [Overlook Hotel] happen? No I am not. [...] I'm always curious to see what will happen. But you know what? I would be just as happy if it didn't happen." Of course, King isn't exactly a big fan of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, either — so let's hope he's wrong about this one, too.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up