Deadline reports that Hulu has made a deal to develop a pilot based on Stephen King’s 1984 fantasy novel, The Eyes of the Dragon.
The streaming service has tapped Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) to write the pilot while also serving as the showrunner.
In a statement to Deadline, Grahame-Smith said:
“The goal for this series is to feel unlike any Stephen King adaptation before, with this rich underlying source material, and the only true fantasy book he wrote that has kings and swords and princesses. We will honor the spirit of the book and the legacy.”
Wanting to write something that his kids could read, King stepped away from the horror genre in 1984 to write The Eyes of the Dragon, a fantasy tale about two brothers who fight for the throne in the Kingdom of Delain after their father, King Roland, is murdered.
The novel was the first to introduce legendary King antagonist, Randall Flagg, who would later turn up in King’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Stand, as well as under various aliases in The Dark Tower series. Both The Stand and The Dark Tower are being adapted into their own series on CBS All Access and Amazon respectively.
King’s foray into the fantasy genre was well received by critics but caused an uproar with his fans who were disappointed to find no horror elements within the story. Negative fan reaction to the novel inspired King to write Misery, whose protagonist is an author taken captive and shackled by an obsessive fan who forces him to write a novel to her liking, a clear metaphor for King’s own feelings of being chained to writing only horror fiction.
Hulu, which also produced the King adaptation of 11/22/63 and is currently home to the King inspired Castle Rock, beat out Apple for the rights.
What do you think Wasteoids? What do you think about the news? Are you a fan of the book?
