First trailer for The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep nods to the original's most iconic moments


This fall, the world will shine again.
Warner Bros. Pictures on Thursday released the first trailer for Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining set decades after the horror classic and based on the 2013 Stephen King novel. Ewan McGregor plays an adult Danny Torrance, who in this first footage recalls the events of the original film while speaking with a child who has his same "shining" powers.
The trailer pulls directly from many of The Shining's most memorable scenes, with glimpses at young Danny riding his bike, the twins, the woman in the bathtub, and more. Director Mike Flanagan explained on Thursday that these shots are not touched-up footage from the Stanley Kubrick movie but instead faithful recreations, with the exception of a brief shot of the bloody elevator which is taken right out of The Shining.
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"Our intention was always to detail and reference and making sure that we were doing it properly, with the hope that even kind of the most rabid cinephiles might not be able to tell the difference," Flanagan said, Entertainment Weekly reports. The trailer also ends with a nod to one of The Shining's most famous shots, with Danny peaking through a broken door.
This is the latest horror project from Flanagan, who recently helmed Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and before that another King adaptation, 2017's Gerald's Game. It's also another King adaptation from Warner Bros., the studio that's also set to release It: Chapter Two in September. Doctor Sleep hits theaters on November 8. Watch the trailer below. Brendan Morrow
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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