Mike Flanagan has established himself very firmly as a serial adapter of Stephen King stories: he made the theatrical film Doctor Sleep, based on the sequel to King’s The Shining; Netflix film Gerald’s Game, based on King’s “unfilmable” novel; and he has a Carrie series coming to Prime Video. He’s also long been noodling on a Dark Tower TV series we’ll hopefully see one of these days. But his next King-adjacent release, The Life of Chuck, is especially notable for one big reason: it’s not a horror tale.
The Life of Chuck isn’t a complete unknown; after all, it’s drawn from a novella collection (2020’s If It Bleeds, the same volume that contains Mr. Harrigan’s Phone) that any King fan can pick up to learn more about the plot. It premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, and Neon—which just released Osgood Perkins’ own King adaptation, The Monkey, as well as recent Oscar triumph Anora—signed on for distribution. So you can draw some conclusions from that—far more than this first teaser, which reveals close to nothing.
The official description is also deliberately vague: “A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King’s novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.”
We do know, of course, that Charles Krantz is played by Tom Hiddleston. The teaser—which is seemingly aimed at viewers who need both Stephen King and Mike Flanagan explained to them—tick-tocks along and reveals Hiddleston as Chuck as well as two other actors seemingly playing younger versions of him, and unfurls a list of cast names that also includes Matthew Lillard, Karen Gillan, David Dastmalchian, Annalise Basso, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Siegel, Mia Sara, Samantha Sloyan, Nick Offerman, Carl Lumbly, Rahul Kohli, Harvey Guillén, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill. Eagle-eyed fans will note several Team Flanagan regulars represented.
We’ll know more about which genres this particular film bends when the full trailer arrives—and see the full story when Life of Chuck hits theaters in June.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju is reportedly upset with the French IT company Atos. Reason is said to be Read more
Bobby Kotick, the former head of Activision Blizzard, is reportedly considering buying TikTok, as the app could be banned Read more
Apple's Find My app has cost the city of Denver, US $3.76 million in compensation and damages. In 2022, Read more
If you have been planing to purchase a budget smartphone, then you can consider buying the Moto G54. Launched Read more