Netflix Pulls the Plug on Stephen King’s Long-Awaited Fantasy Series After Years in Development Hell

Netflix has canceled its long-planned adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Talisman, ending decades of development attempts. The news will likely disappoint fans of the author, who has seen many of his works brought to screens over the years.

One highly anticipated project, The Talisman, had attracted attention because the Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, were involved in its development.

In an interview with CBR, Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed they are no longer part of the project. Matt said, “I remember I was, I think it was probably naive of us to think we could break The Talisman.” Ross added, “It’s been in development forever, so I’m sorry that we were not the ones to break the curse.”

The Talisman has a long history of adaptations. It was turned into a short film in 2008 and a graphic novel similar to King’s other works like The Stand and The Dark Tower. The first issue of the graphic novel was published in October 2009.

Del Rey had planned a series of 24 issues, but only six were released. Over the years, a feature-length film version was discussed, including a version developed by Amblin Partners and The Kennedy/Marshall Company with a script by Chris Sparling. In 2021, Netflix announced plans to develop the novel as a television series with the Duffer Brothers attached.

Despite these efforts, The Talisman will no longer move forward on Netflix, highlighting the difficulties in bringing some of King’s projects to the screen even with high-profile teams involved.

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