Stephen King is one the world’s most prolific writers, so it’s no surprise that everywhere you look there’s a new King adaptation in the works. If you’re a fan of the king of horror, it can be a little hard to keep track of all the movies and TV series coming out. Bookmark this page, cause we’re doing all the hard work for you. Let’s take a look at all the King adaptations scheduled for release, in the works and even those being rumored.

Upcoming releases

‘The Institute’ Season 2, streaming Nov. 8 on MGM Plus

The adaptation of “The Institute” is returning for a second season, streaming Nov. 8 on MGM Plus. It follows teen Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) as he’s sent to a facility for children with special abilities. The series also stars Ben Barnes and Mary-Louise Parker. Season 1 covered pretty much the entirety of King’s book, which came out in 2019, and Season 2 appears to explore how Luke and his cohort plan to take down the institute. To read everything we know about the upcoming season, click here.

It was written and developed by Benjamin Cavell, who also helmed the 2020 series adaptation of “The Stand.”

Returning series

‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Season 2

HBO announced in August that its series expanding on the novel “It” would be returning for a second season. We don’t have a release date for the new season of “It: Welcome to Derry,” but showrunner Brad Caleb Kane told Deadline in mid-October that the team was about halfway through writing the scripts. Kane was co-showrunner for Season 1 with Jason Fuchs, but is completely taking over showrunning duties for next season. Andy Muschietti, who directed the 2017 film adaptation of “It” and its sequel, serves as creator and executive producer on the TV series. Bill Skarsgard plays Pennywise the clown in the two films and the series.

“It” was adapted for the first time in 1990 as a TV miniseries starring Tim Curry as the monstrous clown.

‘Carrie’ Season 2

Days after Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of “Carrie” debuted on Prime Video, the streamer announced the telekinetic teen would be returning for a second season. The eight-episode series already explored the story of telekinetic teen Carrie White far beyond what King wrote in his 1974 debut novel. Neither he nor Flanagan, who also served as executive producer, indicated where the story could go in the future. Prime Video also didn’t reveal any news about casting for the second season of “Carrie.” Read everything we know about the adaptation here and check out our review of Season 1 here.

Flanagan has adapted several King titles, including “Gerald’s Game,” “Doctor Sleep” and “The Life of Chuck.” He’s also set to bring “The Mist” and the daunting “Dark Tower” series to the screen (see below).

In active development

‘The Mist’

“The Mist” is another Mike Flanagan/Stephen King special, and presumably the next project they’ll release. Flanagan gave his most recent update on his adaptation of King’s 1980 novella in an appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September. He told Collider he was in the middle of writing the script and expected to deliver it to Warner Bros. by Halloween. No cast or release date has been announced.

“The Mist” has been previously adapted, first as a film directed by Frank Darabont in 2007 and again as a 10-episode series created by Christian Torpe in 2017. Like Flanagan, Darabont has quite the history of working on King projects, including his first short, “The Woman in the Room,” and two features that made him a household name—“The Green Mile” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”

‘The Dark Tower’ series

Flanagan again. He first announced plans to adapt the nine-book “Dark Tower” series in 2022. Like “The Mist,” we don’t have any casting news or a release date, but Flanagan has said he intends to make at least five TV series and two movies as part of the franchise. His most recent update came in mid-September, when he told EW the project was still in the works.

Filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel adapted the first book in the series as “The Dark Tower” starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in 2017. The film flopped, though, and none of the other books was touched.

Announced

‘Mister Yummy’

In June, Deadline reported that filmmaker Ben Young was adapting “Mister Yummy,” a short story from the 2015 collection “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.” Troy Abruzzise is helping to write the script, and Intrinsic Value Films and Handsome Watson are producing.

‘Rat’

Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban revealed in September 2025 that he’s been tapped to direct an adaptation of “Rat,” a novella included in the 2020 collection “If It Bleeds.” Jeff Howard is writing, and Jay Van Hoy and Paul Perez are producing.

‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’

Filmmaker JT Mollner is working on an adaptation of “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President Erin Westerman announced the project in July 2025, but there haven’t been any updates since then. There’s no release date or casting news.

Mollner previously served as a writer on an adaptation of King’s “The Long Walk” for Lionsgate.

‘The Stand’

Another adaptation is in the works of “The Stand,” King’s 1978 post-apocalyptic thriller about a virus that decimates Earth, leaving a dark, supernatural being who tries to gather the last survivors to him. Paramount Pictures tapped Doug Liman to make a movie version of the story, announcing the project in June 2025. Again, no word on a release date or cast.

This would be the first feature film adaptation of “The Stand,” but Mark Garris created a miniseries version in 1994, and a 2020 miniseries starred Alexander Skarsgard.

‘Cujo’

In March 2025, it was announced that Netflix planned to adapt King’s 1981 book “Cujo” into a new feature film. Details are sparse, but less than a week later, The Hollywood Reporter said Darren Aronofsky was in talks to direct. Lewis Teague previously adapted the book about a terrifying St. Bernard in 1983, starring Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly and Danny Pintauro. Two years later, Teague directed another animal-related King adaptation—“Cat’s Eye,” an anthology based on the short stories “Quitter’s Inc.” and “The Ledge” from the “Night Shift” collection, and a third, original story King wrote for the film called “General.”

‘Fairy Tale’

Deadline reported in October 2024 that Paul Greengrass wrote the script and is expected to direct a 10-episode adaptation of the epic “Fairy Tale.” A24 is behind the project, and so is J.H. Wyman, who is helping with the script and will co-showrun alongside Greengrass. The 2022 is about a teenager who enters an otherworldly realm to help heal his aging dog, but gets caught up in a courtly and supernatural power struggle akin to the one seen in “The Dark Tower” series.

‘Billy Summers’

In February 2023, Deadline reported that Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the 2021 novel “Billy Summers,” shifting what had been a planned series to a feature film. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way were expected to produce, but not much has been revealed about the project since then.

‘Later’

Announced in 2022, Blumhouse Television said it was making a 10-episode adaptation of King’s 2021 novel “Later” with Lucy Liu set to star. Raelle Tucker wrote the pilot script, but no further announcements have been made.

‘The Regulators’

Bohemia Group revealed in August 2022 that it optioned the rights to King’s 1996 novel “The Regulators,” which was written under his pen name Richard Bachman. Deadline reported that George Cowan was set to write the script. It’s still listed on the production company’s website as being in pre-production.

‘Christine’

Bryan Fuller was announced in 2021 to take a new stab at King’s book about a possessed car, “Christine.” Not much has been revealed since then.

John Carpenter directed the first film adaptation of the novel in 1983.

Other rumblings

• New Zealand director James Ashroft told The Spinoff in March 2025 that King offered him the rights to adapt the short story “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream.”
• Filmmaker Jack Bender told CinemaBlend in 2021 that he wrote an adaptation of the 2018 novella “Elevation,” which got King’s approval.