JRR Tolkien and George RR Martin have competition in the world of big-name fantasy TV adaptations: Stephen King’s 2022 bestseller Fairy taleOriginally planned as a feature film, it is now coming to the small screen courtesy of A24. DirectorPaul Greengrass (News of the World, Jason Bourne)who was involved in the initial film project, is still on board, with JH Wyman. (Marginal, almost human) joining as showrunner for the 10-episode series.
Deadline got the scoop on this news, reporting that Greengrass’s original script “will be expanded” by Greengrass and Wyman, and that Greengrass will “likely” stay on as director as well. The reason Fairy tale didn’t work as a movie, the trade says, it’s that King’s 600-plus-page novel was too long to condense into a single film. When Universal walked away, that’s when producer Peter Rice (Saturday night) and A24 decided to make a television program.
The frequently adapted King is known for his super-long books, of course, but he almost always works in the horror genre. Fairy tale is unusual in that it leans heavily toward fantasy, although there are still horror elements present. The book’s cover blurb offers praise from none other than Guillermo del Toro, who calls it “a journey to a magical and terrifying land where wonder and horror are one.”
Here is the official description of the story: “Charlie Reade seems like a normal high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy burden. His mother died in a terrible accident when he was seven years old and the pain drove his father to drink. Charlie learned to take care of himself and his father. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and his elderly master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a large house on the top of a large hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds arise.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses her heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape that tells a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret his entire life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
So far it is not known which streamer or network will present the series, and it is obviously too early to know anything about casting or when the premiere date might be. What do you think of a Fairy tale series, and King’s work setting in motion yet another adaptation?
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