The Talisman: Duffer Brothers confirm their Stephen King / Peter Straub adaptation isn’t happening
About five years ago, it was announced that Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers would be producing a series adaptation of the Stephen King and Peter Straub novel The Talisman (pick up a copy HERE) – and when they launched a production company called Upside Down Pictures three years ago, one of the projects on the Upside Down slate was indeed that series adaptation of The Talisman. Given the fact that the Duffers have been busy guiding Stranger Things to its upcoming finale, it hasn’t been a surprise that they haven’t been able to get their King / Straub adaptation into production yet… but now, they have confirmed that it’s not happening at all.
Development Hell
The Talisman was first published near the end of 1984, and Steven Spielberg has been trying to crack an adaptation ever since. He secured the rights quickly, but one of the first snags it hit was that Spielberg got distracted by making Empire of the Sun – and that movie came out back in 1987. In the early ’90s, screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, who had just been nominated for an Academy award for writing The Fisher King, was hired to write a feature adaptation. In 2000, Mick Garris was going to turn the story into a four-hour ABC mini-series. Then the plan switched back to turning it into a feature. Ehren Kruger wrote a draft. Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro worked on the script. Vadim Perelman was going to direct the film. Then Edward Zwick was going to direct the film. In the mid-2000s, it was set up as a six-hour mini-series at TNT, but then it was decided that it would be too expensive. The plan switched back to making it a feature. Josh Boone wrote a fresh draft of the script in 2017.
Then the Duffer Brothers got involved and started developing the material into a Netflix series. The plan was for the Duffers to executive produce alongside Spielberg, who would be executive producing via Amblin Television. Curtis Gwinn, a writer and executive producer on Stranger Things, was set to serve as showrunner. But, like all previous attempts to bring The Talisman to the screen, this set-up fell apart.
Duffers No Longer Involved
During an interview with CBR, the Duffers revealed that they are no longer involved with The Talisman. Ross Duffer said, “Sadly, Talisman is no longer at Netflix, so we’re not involved.” Matt added, “I think it was probably naive of us to think we could break The Talisman.“
Ross went on to say, “When I interned, when I was really, you know, back in college at Kennedy Marshall, I remember reading, I think it was a movie script for Talisman. So it’s been in development forever, so I’m sorry that we were not the ones to break the curse.“
When Mick Garris heard the sad news, he posted on Facebook, “Man, what is it with the poor luck of The Talisman on its way to a film or TV adaptation? I wrote a four-hour miniseries I was going to direct for Amblin and ABC way back when. Richard LaGravenese had already written an aborted feature version. Ron Howard was going to movies that branched into a TV series. Now the Duffer Brothers version is history. I don’t know how many other attempts were made–or will be made–but I wish this amazing story well.” Garris added that his script for The Talisman is one of his favorites, but we’ll probably never see it.
The Book
The Talisman tells of a 12-year old boy named Jack Sawyer who sets off on an epic road-trip quest in order to save his dying mother’s life. He is in search of the Talisman, a powerful relic that can not only heal his mother but, as he learns, save the world. Sawyer’s journey criss-crosses two realities: the America we know and its dangerous, fantasy-world twin, The Territories.
In 2001, King and Straub reteamed for the sequel Black House, which found an adult Jack Sawyer working for the LAPD and travelling to Wisconsin to bring down a serial killer called The Fisherman. There have been rumblings of a third book in the series for a decade now… and even though Straub passed away in 2022, King is sticking with the plan to finish the Jack Sawyer trilogy. A year ago, he said he was writing the third book in the series – and we’ll probably get to read that book before a film or TV series adaptation of The Talisman gets made.
Are you sad to hear that the Duffer Brothers won’t be making The Talisman for Netflix after all? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
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