Director Mike Flanagan Expects Doctor Sleep to Get R Rating

Production is underway on Mike Flanagan's upcoming film adaptation of Doctor Sleep, the novel of which was written by Stephen King and released in 2013 as a sequel to The Shining. It's still very early in the process, but director Mike Flanagan has been speaking out about taking on this film and giving fans some information on what to expect when it makes its premiere in early 2020.

Flanagan spoke with Collider about the project and revealed that it's "very safe to assume" the film will receive an R rating. The story features a number of adult themes ranging from trauma to addiction so such a rating would make sense, especially with the recent success of more mature horror films such as Stephen King's It. The filmmaker also discussed his inspiration for making this film and what it means to him to be creating a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's famous adaptation.

The cast of Doctor Sleep includes Ewan McGregor (Star Wars prequels) as Dan Torrance, Kyliegh Curran as Abra Stone, Rebecca Ferguson (Life, Mission Impossible: Fallout) as Rose the Hat, Alex Essoe (Starry Eyes) as Wendy Torrance, Carl Lumbly (Alias) as Dick Halloran, Zahn McClarnon (Into the West) as Crow Daddy, and Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness) as Dr. John.

Stephen King's 2013 best-selling novel, Doctor Sleep, brought back Danny Torrance, grown up and psychologically traumatized from what happened to him as a young boy. Danny, or Dan as he refers to himself now, spends years drifting across the country trying to find his purpose and deal with his inner-demons. He eventually settles in a New Hampshire town and finds work at a local hospice. He uses his psychic "shining" abilities to comfort the dying, and with the help of a cat that can sense the coming of death, Dan becomes known at the hospice as “Doctor Sleep.”

Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil) is directing the new film for Warner Bros. and also helped rewrite a script submitted by Akiva Goldsman. Doctor Sleep is slated for release on January 24th, 2020.

Stay tuned to Dead Entertainment for all the latest news on Doctor Sleep.

About the Author

Chris Morse

Programmer by day, writer by night. Having grown up surrounded by plenty of horror movies and video games, it only made sense for Chris to combine all of these passions into one place: Dead Entertainment. Whether he's working on designs, tinkering with the platform, or just writing up the latest horror news, he's sure to be hard at work keeping the wheels turning on this website no matter what time of day it is. When not coding or gaming, you can find him donning a Cheesehead and heading to the Midwest to cheer on his favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers. #GoPackGo

More Reading

Mike Flanagan Previews Extended Director’s Cut of Doctor Sleep

This is what you can expect from the upcoming three-hour cut of the Stephen King adaptation.

Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep Heads to 4K Blu-ray on February 4th, Includes Extended Director’s Cut

The Digital version of the film will come out a little bit earlier in January.

Mike Flanagan Breaks Down That Surprise Character Appearance in Doctor Sleep

The scene also featured a little throwback to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

Stephen King Says Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep “Redeems” Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining to Him

The author famously disliked the movie that came first, but has great things to say about this adaptation of his sequel novel.