29 Years Later, Stephen King’s Verdict On This 3-Part TV Horror Remake Makes Even Less Sense

Published Sep 13, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 29 years later, Stephen King still has the wrong take when it comes to a 3-part TV adaptation of one of his most famous horror novels. King has famously never had a problem expressing his opinion on the TV and movie adaptations of his novels and short stories. Good or bad, King will let you know. It comes with the territory. King is incredibly generous with his work, which is part of why there are so many Stephen King movies and TV shows. Up until 2023, King ran his "Dollar Baby" program, which was an arrangement that granted permission to students and aspiring filmmakers to adapt his short stories at the cost of 1 dollar. If you're willing to allow your stories to be made so frequently, you're allowed an opinion as well. And King has opinions. Maybe his most well-known are his thoughts on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The Shining is often ranked on the list of the greatest horror films ever, but King tends to disagree. King's problems with The Shining range from Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) having no arc to the lack of tragedy in the film. Point of order: King has not been entirely down on the film, and in 1980 on The David Letterman Show, began his interview by lauding the movie for having moments that are, "... flawless and beautiful". King is allowed his opinion, just as anyone is, and you don't have to like The Shining, but King goes a step further. He claims that the three-episode adaptation of The Shining that premiered on ABC in 1997 is the superior version, a claim which is hard to justify if you've seen them both. Stephen King Prefers The Shining’s TV Remake Because It’s Faithful To His Novel Credit: MovieStillsDB One of the main reasons why King prefers the show version of The Shining is better is that the miniseries is more faithful to his novel, and the actor who plays Jack Torrance, Steven Weber, has a better grasp on the character than Nicholson. Several of King's issues seem to stem from Nicholson's performance. The Shining is a highly personal book. It's the story of an alcoholic writer slowly losing his mind and frightening the ones he professes to love. That's basically the story of Stephen King in the '70s and '80s. He too struggled with substance abuse issues. It's almost an autobiographical story, so any changes to it would probably feel deeply personal and just wrong to King. I have another theory as to why King didn't like Kubrick's film. King is highly competitive. He's a prolific writer with incredible ambition and energy, and he's a sports lover, with baseball being the center of several of his stories. I would not be surprised if the success of Kubrick's The Shining ticked King off a bit and got his competitive juices going, like a slugger who gets struck out by a Gold Glove pitcher. Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Is Nothing Like The Book, Yet King Loves It A King adaptation doesn't need to be absolutely faithful for King to like it. Take Mike Flanagan's Carrie. King has come out and called the eight-episode miniseries "brilliant" and "shocking and true" in anticipation of the October 7th premiere date of the show on Prime Video. Carrie is far from faithful to the source material. The series is a reimagining of the novel, a necessity considering Flanagan needs to fill eight episodes with a story that's one of King's shortest novels. While the storyline may be different, Flanagan has been clear that the themes and ideas remain the same, and it seems that's what counts for King when it comes to The Shining, Carrie, or any other adaptations of his stories. Release Date 1997 - 1997-00-00 Network ABC Directors Mick Garris Cast Rebecca De Mornay, Steven Weber, Wil Horneff, Courtland Mead, Cynthia Garris, Mickey Giacomazzi, Melvin Van Peebles, John Durbin