Mike Flanagan Discusses Doctor Sleep Sharing the Same Universe as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Last week, we finally received our first look at Mike Flanagan’s upcoming film adaptation of Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s 2013 sequel novel to The Shining. Astute viewers quickly noticed that a few key scenes from Stanley Kubrick’s film were recreated for this one, making it clear that this follow-up will take place in the same universe as its predecessor.

This is especially interesting because the author’s sequel novel did not take that approach at all, instead opting to ignore everything the film did differently when compared to the original novel. While speaking with EW, Flanagan confirmed as much and revealed how this film would not have even happened if he could not get King to sign off on the idea. Read his explanation below.

Although placing this film in the same universe as Kubrick’s was a major source of anxiety for the director, it sounds like he was able to find a perfect balance between the sequel novel and Kubrick's film, which all parties seem to be happy about. That’s quite remarkable and it’s something for fans to be excited about as well as we move closer and closer to its debut later this year.

Doctor Sleep brings 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.”

The cast 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.

In addition to directing, Mike Flanagan also helped rewrite a script submitted by Akiva Goldsman. Doctor Sleep is slated for release on November 8th, 2019.

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

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