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Spike TV Orders Stephen King?’s ‘?The Mist??’ As First Scripted Production

By Ny MaGee
Published on: 12:17 PST, Feb 25, 2016

Spike TV has ordered a pilot based on Stephen King’s novella The Mist, the Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Last year it was announced that the story was being adapted for television, with Dimension TV set to produce the project. King’s novella was originally published in 1980, and centers on a small town in Maine that is suddenly enveloped in a nefarious mist that conceals monsters. A film version of The Mist grossed $57 million at the box office in 2007. The story has also inspired some high-profile video games including Silent Hill and Half-Life.

Spike executive Sharon Levy vowed that The Mist would be a “compelling series unlike anything else on television.”

EW notes that one challenge for the Spike production would be figuring out “how to take King’s trapped-group concept and expand it into an ongoing series.” Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Dimension TV’s parent company, The Weinstein Co., expressed his excitement about the project in a statement.

“The terror and drama in Stephen King’s novella are so vast that we felt serialized television is the best place to explore them in greater depth,” Weinstein said previously. “With this show, Christian has created a fascinating band of characters and a story with infinite scares.”

The award-winning author has published 54 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman. Stephen’s horror and supernatural books have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide, many of which have been adapted for the big screen, TV shows/miniseries, and comic books. King’s stories are primarily set in his home state of Maine. In 2015, King was awarded with a National Medal of Arts from the United States National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature.

King’s TV projects include Under the Dome, which recently ended after three seasons on CBS, and 11.22.63, based on his novel of the same name, debuted on Hulu February 15. The nine-hour limited event series stars James Franco as a high-school teacher who travels back in time to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

King has had more books adapted or optioned than any living author, and he explained to Deadline why he options his titles for cheap, as well as what he believes Hollywood owes authors when their books become films.

“I want a dollar, and I want approvals over the screenwriter, the director and the principal cast,” King explained. “We try to make these people understand, the people that are doing the deal, that I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I’m not a hard guy to get along with. In all the time we’ve been doing this, I’ve never put up a red light to anybody about anything that they wanted to do. Because if they want to make changes, if they want to be a little bit out on the edge, I’m all for it. I like it.”

Lately, King has annoyed and angered fans by sharing his views about politics and immigration on Twitter. Last August, the author slammed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by suggesting the GOP frontrunner is running a racist campaign.

“How’s this for a Trump campaign slogan: IF YOU’RE WHITE, YOU’RE ALL RIGHT! ANY OTHER HUE, I DON’T TRUST YOU,” King tweeted.

Many have responded to his fearless political opinions by assuring the author that they will never buy his books again. Meanwhile, King has already profited off such people, so perhaps he finds their Twitter threats laughable.

Stephen King’s The Mist series will be the first scripted production pilot at Spike TV, with Christian Torpe set to executive produce. No premiere date has been set.

[Images courtesy Francois Mori/AP]

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