There is no better time to announce a horror movie. Coming off The Fall of the House of Usher, Mike Flanagan is set to adapt the 2020 Stephen King novel, The Life of Chuck, with the biggest cast to date for the filmmaker. This will be his third adaptation of the best-selling author and his first movie since 2019’s Doctor Sleep.
On X/Twitter, the director announced the cast to join him. While we will see some people who have worked with him in the past, some newcomers to the Flanaverse will join. People who had not worked with the filmmaker before include the musician Taylor Gordon, Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Benjamin Pajak (Where It’s Beautiful When It Rains), Trinity Jo-Li Bliss (Avatar: The Way of Water), Matthew Lillard (Scream), Q’orianka Kilcher (Yellowstone), Antonio Raul Corbo (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), David Dastmalchian (Dune), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), and Jacob Tremblay (The Toxic Avenger).
Mike Flanagan Announces the Full Cast of His Stephen King Adaptation of The Life of Chuck
Mike Flanagan tends to work with not one but a full roster of actors through multiple projects, like in The Life of Chuck. Returning to work with him once again include Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Carl Lumbly, Annalise Basso, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Matt Biedel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Michael Trucco, Violet McGraw, Molly C. Quinn, Heather Langenkamp, and his wife, Kate Siegel.
The novel is split into multiple stories that tell the life of Charles Krantz. In reverse order, it goes from his death to his childhood, which featured a traumatizing haunted house. Details on the vision Mike Flanagan has for The Life of Chuck are being held close to his chest.
Film production has been tricky this year due to the WGA strike and the continuing SAG-AFTRA strike. As explained in his thread, SAG-AFTRA gave the film an “interim agreement” due to the film’s independent funding. The deals have been considered crucial to the strike to keep crews and actors working while projects that could pay more are on hold as studios refuse to give SAG a proper deal.
Adaptations are nothing new for the director. On top of having his take on The Life of Chuck, Mike Flanagan has brought Stephen King stories like Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game to life. He has also done Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. While he keeps respect for the source material, he has largely modernized these stories, as seen with his final Netflix project, House of Usher.
No release date is set for the film. For now, you can check out the best-known works of the director, like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher, on Netflix.
