Four years ago, we confirmed that Steven Spielberg had enlisted the help of the Duffer brothers to adapt one of Stephen King‘s most beloved fantasy novels after decades of trying in vain to bring it to life. Unfortunately, that project is no longer moving forward at Netflix, as recently revealed by the Stranger Things creators. Titled The Talisman, King co-wrote the acclaimed 1984 novel with Peter Straub, and two years before it was published, Spielberg acquired the screen rights outright and in perpetuity.

The Talisman tells an intriguing story about a 12-year-old boy named Jack Sawyer, who is seeking an artifact called the Talisman on a terrifying journey through a parallel universe called the Territories, as it’s the only thing that could save his dying mother. Seventeen years later, King and Straub teamed up again to write a sequel called Black House, where Jack is now an adult, a retired Los Angeles homicide detective with no memories of his time in the Territories. The bestseller received a short film adaptation in 2008 and a graphic novel in October 2009.

A ‘The Talisman’ Adaptation Has Been Stuck in Development Hell for Decades

A feature-length adaptation of The Talisman has been in development for decades. After acquiring the rights, Spielberg spent the next 35-plus years developing it as a movie, trying in vain to find a way into the story. In 2021, the Duffer brothers came on board to executive produce a series based on the book, which was to be produced by Netflix in association with Spielberg‘s Amblin Television and Paramount Television Studios. It was also reported that Curtis Gwinn, a writer and executive producer on Stranger Things, would write and serve as showrunner on The Talisman. This version of the adaptation wasn’t officially announced until 2022.

via Collider