Last year, the HBO Max streaming service ordered a series called Overlook, which would take place in the world of Stephen King's The Shining, from J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot. Now HBO Max has decided not to move ahead with Overlook and Bad Robot is looking to find a new home for the show – with Deadline mentioning that Netflix could be its destination. We'll have to wait and see.
Written by Dustin Thomason and Scott Brown, Overlook is described as a "horror thriller series"
inspired by and featuring iconic characters from Stephen King's masterpiece The Shining. Overlook explores the untold, terrifying stories of the most famous haunted hotel in American fiction.
According to Deadline, the decision makers at HBO Max liked Overlook but "felt it was not a fit for them at this time." Which is strange, because I'd think a streaming service would be glad to cash in on Stephen King and The Shining at any time.
Overlook is the fourth collaboration between King, Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. Television, following the Hulu projects Castle Rock and 11.22.63 and the Apple TV+ mini-series Lisey's Story. Abrams and Ben Stephenson are on board to executive produce, with Rachel Rusch Rich co-executive producing.
King's novel The Shining (pick up a copy HERE) was famously turned into a feature film by Stanley Kubrick back in 1980 (watch that one HERE) and somewhat infamously turned into a mini-series by King and Mick Garris in 1997 (get that HERE). King wrote a sequel novel titled Doctor Sleep (buy it HERE), which was turned into a film by Mike Flanagan in 2019 (watch Doctor Sleep at THIS LINK).
At one point, Mark Romanek was attached to direct a prequel film that would have been called The Overlook Hotel and would have told the story of the hotel's first owner. That project fell apart several years ago.