If, like me, you'd completely forgotten that Spike TV was working on a TV adaptation of Stephen King's "The Mist", then let this first trailer for the new series serve as a reminder. The show will take the basic premise of King's novella, in which a small town is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters, and fill it full of a entirely new cast of characters.
"That's what it does. It screws with your mind."
Series creator Christian Torpe told Entertainment Weekly that he hopes to remain respectful to the source material, but he also feels as though Frank Darabont's 2007 movie already serves as a great adaptation of "The Mist", which leaves Torpe free to branch out further. "The novella is 200 pages and one location, and we needed to change that to make an ongoing series. But we wanted to remain faithful to the heart of the story," said Torpe. This means that the grocery store location won't be the only one featured as the series will be spread out over several locations, including a church and a mall.
But we are not just in the mall, we establish different little pressure cookers under the influence of whoever the leader would be in those locations. Each of them come up with different theories or beliefs about what’s going on. Eventually, the story lines will dovetail and turn into conflicts.
Although the series will attempt to differentiate itself from both the Stephen King story and the Frank Darabont movie, Torpe says that it's possible that the characters of the original story may "make a cameo at some point." As the sinister qualities found within the trapped townspeople begin to be unleashed, Torpe feels as though the series will be unfortunately timely given the political climate.
Unfortunately, I thought it was incredibly timely to do a show about what people do when they are blinded by fear. We look around at what’s going on in the world, and everyone is constantly looking for someone to blame, or someone to lead them to the promised land. They find people to hate, either because of their gender or race or faith. Those are elements we tap into — how fear drives things like misogyny and homophobia.
The Mist will premiere on Spike TV on June 22, 2017.