Audio Up Media, iHeartMedia, and Lee Metzger are teaming up for a podcast adaptation of the Stephen King short story Strawberry Spring, which was first published in a 1968 issue of Ubris magazine and later included in King's 1978 short story collection Night Shift (buy a copy HERE). Metzger will be writing and directing the adaptation, with Philip Alberstat producing.
Strawberry Spring centers on
a journalist who hears the name "Springheel Jack" while listening to the radio, which rekindles memories of when he was a student and heard about the serial killer for the first time. The story quickly turns into a hunt for the killer, and the journalist will not stop at anything to find him.
The podcast's voice cast will include Garrett Hedlund, Milo Ventimiglia, Herizen F. Guardiola, Sydney Sweeney, Ken Marino, and Al Madrigal. The Wrap broke the news and they were told that "more cast members will be announced at a later date".
Audio Up's Jared Gutstadt had this to say about the project:
When Lee mentioned Strawberry Spring, I knew immediately it was a winner. Audio Up prides itself on continually raising the bar within audio entertainment, from working with top Hollywood actors to script creation, all the way to how we approach sound design and music composition. We hope this will be a breakout podcast this fall. I am so beyond excited for Stephen King fans to experience his work in the Audio Up podcast universe."
Metzger added:
As a lifelong fan of Stephen King, I couldn’t be more excited to work with Jared, Audio Up and iHeart Media to bring this story to life. I couldn’t ask for a better project for my first scripted podcast."
A release date for Strawberry Spring has not yet been announced, but in his statement Gutstadt mentioned that it should be available "this fall".