Stephen King’s Talisman Show Coming From Steven Spielberg & Stranger Things Creators

[MrBond]

Stephen King’s Talisman Show Coming From Steven Spielberg & Stranger Things Creators

Stephen King’s The Talisman show is coming from Steven Spielberg and Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers. Co-written with Peter Straub, the Talisman novel hit book shelves back in 1984. In something of a departure for both the book's authors, the novel entered the realm of fantasy with its story of a boy on a quest through parallel dimensions to find the titular talisman, a crystal which he believes can heal his dying mother.

The dark multiverse fantasy of King and Straub's The Talisman ultimately captivated their combined readerships enough to sell 880,000 copies in its first run. But even before the book was released, it had already won a huge fan in Spielberg, who famously secured movie rights in 1982. As late as 2018, Spielberg was still talking about making the book into a movie, and in 2019 it was reported that the movie was going forward with Handmaid's Tale director Mike Barker at the helm.

But it seems Spielberg has now given up his quest to make The Talisman come to life as a movie. As reported by THR, the famed director is joining forces with Stranger Things co-creators the Duffer Brothers to instead produce the project as a show for Netflix along with his own Amblin Television plus Paramount Television Studios.

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The Duffer Brothers are of course clearly huge fans of both Spielberg and King, as evidenced by their constant references to the two titans of '80s pop culture on Stranger Things. Netflix knows a thing or two about King adaptations as well, having produced Gerald's Game, 1922 and In the Tall Grass. Besides Spielberg holding Talisman movie rights for decades, he and King's only previous connection of note came via the series Under the Dome, based on King's novel and executive produced by Spielberg.

News that The Talisman is finally coming to screens is great for fans of the book who have long waited to see it adapted. However, it may be slightly disappointing to some that the world is not getting the Spielberg-directed movie adaptation many have longed for since the filmmaker first locked down the rights. On the surface, news that the Duffer Brothers are also involved should seem positive given their obvious affection for King's works. But on the other hand, it can be argued that the Duffers' affection runs a little too much to the blatantly nostalgic side, and tends to reduce everything to mere reference.

It may also give some people pause to remember that the last time a big King fantasy work was adapted, the result was the very disappointing Dark Tower movie. Of course, The Talisman is a single work and not a massive series like the Dark Tower books (Talisman did get a sequel novel in 2001 but that book presumably will not figure in to the adaptation). It will be fascinating to see how the visions of King (and Straub), the Duffers and Spielberg ultimately blend when the long-awaited The Talisman adaptation makes its way to Netflix.