First published in 2006, the Stephen King novel Lisey's Story proved to be a popular one among filmmakers who were interested in bring King stories to the screen – GERALD'S GAME / DOCTOR SLEEP director Mike Flanagan and Josh Boone, who is currently directing a mini-series based on King's The Stand, both expressed interest in directing a Lisey's Story movie. But rather than have Flanagan or Boone handle the adaptation, King has written the Lisey's Story adaptation himself and it's now headed to Apple TV+ as an eight hour limited series.
Lisey's Story is coming to us from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. King has written every episode of the series, which is set to be directed by Pablo Larraín. Larraín is probably best known for directing the 2016 Jacqueline Kennedy biopic JACKIE.
As we have previously reported, Julianne Moore will be starring in the series as Lisey herself. King's novel (which you can pick up a copy of HERE) had the following description:
Lisey lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey knew there was a place Scott went — a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it’s Lisey’s turn to face Scott’s demons, to go to that terrifying place known as Boo’ya Moon. What begins as a widow’s effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited.
The synopsis for the limited series, which is described as a "deeply personal thriller", simplies things to say that
two years after the death of her husband, a series of events causes Lisey to begin facing certain realities about her husband that she had repressed and forgotten.
Clive Owen will be playing Lisey's husband, and Joan Allen has now joined Moore and Owen in the cast. Allen will be playing Amanda, the oldest of Lisey's sisters.
Allen is no stranger to King adaptations herself; five years ago she starred in director Peter Askin's King-based film A GOOD MARRIAGE. King wrote the script for that one himself, too.
Allen is a three-time Oscar nominee for her work in NIXON, THE CRUCIBLE, and THE CONTENDER, but is probably better known for her roles in MANHUNTER, FACE/OFF, PLEASANTVILLE, the BOURNE franchise, and Paul W.S. Anderson's DEATH RACE remake, in which she spoke the immortal line, "F*ck with me and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk."
King is executive producer on Lisey's Story alongside Moore, Abrams, and Bad Robot's Ben Stephenson.