Published in 2013, Doctor Sleep is Stephen King's sequel to his 1977 novel The Shining. Released in 2019, Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Doctor Sleep is an adaptation of the novel, and also a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film of The Shining, which famously deviated from the text. How's that going to work? Here's everything you need to know.
What is Doctor Sleep?
Doctor Sleep is a sequel to The Shining, picking up the story of Danny Torrance as an adult. Stephen King revealed that he was writing the novel in 2011, and it was published in 2013. It begins with the aphorism "FEAR stands for Fuck Everything And Run".
The story finds Danny – now the more mature Dan – in New Hampshire, working in a hospice, where his psychic "Shining" ability helps ease terminally ill patients in their final moments. That's how he earned the nickname of the title. In the past, the legacy of Jack Torrance and the events at the Overlook Hotel have driven Dan to alcoholism, but he's now sober, if fragile.
Angry ghosts from the Overlook still haunt him, but he keeps them trapped in "lockboxes" in his mind. The real antagonists this time are an itinerant cult called the True Knot, who travel the United States in Winnebagos and survive into extended lifespans by feeding on a psychic essence they call "Steam". They get this from murdering children who have the Shining, and when the particularly steamful Abra Stone finds herself in their path, she starts contacting Dan via astral projection. Dan gets involved, plunging back into the heart of darkness he's been trying to move past.
Who directed Doctor Sleep?
Doctor Sleep's director is Mike Flanagan, the horror prodigy whose previous work includes Oculus__, Ouija: Origin of Evil and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House. He also made the rather good Gerald's Game (again for Netflix), based on a Stephen King novel that had largely been considered unfilmable. King thought Gerald's Game was "terrific" and Hill House "a work of genius", so was happy to approve Flanagan as Doctor Sleep's caretaker. Flanagan wrote the screenplay and also serves as the film's editor.
Fascinatingly, given King's famous antipathy for the film version, Flanagan has very much leaned into Doctor Sleep being a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's adaptation. In the novel of The Shining, the Overlook is ultimately destroyed, whereas in the film it remained intact. In the novel of Doctor Sleep, Dan and Abra revisit the site of the burned hotel, but in Flanagan's film – as revealed in the first trailer – Dan ends up back in the hotel itself: a note perfect recreation of Kubrick's 1980 vision.
Who stars in Doctor Sleep?
Ewan McGregor is Dan Torrance, the grown up Danny, son of Jack.
Rebecca Ferguson is Rose the Hat, leader of child-murdering, Steam-imbibing cult the True Knot.
Kyliegh Curran is Abra Stone, a girl with an especially strong shining ability.
Zahn McClarnon, Carel Struycken, Selena Anduze, Emily Alyn Lind and Catherine Parker are True Knot acolytes Crow Daddy, Grandpa Flick, Apron Annie, Snakebite Andi and Silent Sarey.
Bruce Greenwood is John Dalton, Abra's family doctor. Greenwood worked with Flanagan previously in Gerald's Game.
Elsewhere in the cast are Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe, Cliff Curtis, Jacob Tremblay, Cliff Curtis, Carl Lumbly, Roger Dale Floyd and Nicholas Pryor.
When is Doctor Sleep released?
Doctor Sleep will be haunting your nightmares from 8 November 2019.
Stephen King's novels Doctor Sleep and The Shining are published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton, should you wish to do some revision beforehand.
Trailer
Poster
