Since lots ofStephen Kingsci-fi movies and shows are in the works already, it is surprising that the author’s best sci-fi novel,The Dead Zone, has not yet received a re-imagining. Out ofStephen King’s 66 books, it is fair to suggest that the prolific author’s horror novels have made the biggest mark on mainstream pop culture. Some of his non-horror works, like the novellas “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body,” have been adapted into iconic classics likeThe Shawshank RedemptionandStand By Me.
However, it isKing’s nastier horror storiesthat remains his most famous output, thanks to iconic books likeCarrie,The Shining, andIt, as well as their many successful screen adaptations. King has penned some of the most iconic horror stories of the last century, so it is easy to forget that the author is also a prolific writer of sci-fi stories. However, King has written over a dozen sci-fi books, and many have been adapted into TV shows and movies. In the next few years alone, there will be at least four Stephen King sci-fi projects arriving on screens.
There Are Several Movie & TV Adaptations Of Stephen King’s Sci-Fi Books In The Works
There Are At Least Four Stephen King Sci-Fi Stories On The Way
2025 will see the arrival ofI Am Legenddirector Francis Lawrence’s adaptation ofThe Long Walk, a dystopian novel about a group of boys competing in a grueling life-or-death endurance test. Later in the year, director Edgar Wright’s remake ofThe Running Manwill see Glen Powell replace Arnold Schwarzenegger in a remake of the 1987 movie.The Running Manis another dystopian King sci-fi adaptation, this one following an antihero as he tries to survive a hellish televised death match.
Before that, director Mike Flanagan’s sci-fi adjacentThe Life of Chuckwill arrive on the big screen in June, while the small screen will play host to theKing adaptationThe Institute. With a plot that bears some ironic resemblance to the Stephen King-inspiredStranger Things,The Institutefocuses on a young hero who is kidnapped and imprisoned in the eponymous shady institute for gifted children after villains kill his parents. Between them, these sci-fi adaptations ensure2025 will be a huge year for Stephen King’s sci-fi stories.
This Sci-Fi Thriller Is One Of King’s Most Accomplished Outings
As such, it is surprising that director David Cronenberg’s sci-fi thrillerThe Dead Zonehas not yet received a remake.The Dead Zoneis King’s most accomplished sci-fi novelas the story weaves together the author’s unnerving, intimate depictions of the horrors lurking beneath the cheery veneer of small-town American life with a more ambitious, sci-fi premise.The Dead Zonetells the story of Johnny Smith, a coma patient who wakes up with the ability to tell someone’s future just by touching them. The resulting adaptation became one of King’s most critically successful movies.
1976
94%
1986
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1990
91%
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89%
1983
SinceKing has recommended many mystery novelsto his readers over the years, it will not surprise readers to discover that Johnny’s newfound abilities soon see his fate become entwined with other loosely linked characters who have murky, amoral intentions. Both a local serial killer and an ambitious politician soon become the objects of Johnny’s obsessive focus as the novel’s protagonist desperately works to ensure that a terrible potential future doesn’t become a reality.
1983’s adaptation ofThe Dead Zonebenefits from a superb central performance from Christopher Walken as well as some of Cronenberg’s slickest direction. Eschewing the gristle of his body horror output for something more austere and clinical, the horror legend turns King’s tale into a memorably bleak cautionary tale.
Smith’s struggle with his precognition and the way it plays into the shady world of local politics could receive a fascinating update in 2025.
However,The Dead Zoneneeds a modern remake more than most King stories, sincea contemporary retelling could modernize and update the book’s themes, which are now 40 years old. Smith’s struggle with his precognition and the way it plays into the shady world of local politics could receive a fascinating update in 2025, so Stephen King’s most accomplished sci-fi story deserves this treatment while adaptations of his work remain popular on the big and small screen alike.
