The sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining has found it star. Variety has reported Ewan McGregor (Christopher Robin) will lead the film as Danny Torrance in Doctor Sleep, the son of Jack Torrance who was played by Jack Nicholson in the film adaptation of The Shining.
McGregor’s casting apparently earned the blessing of Stephen King, according to Variety, a notable feat since King was against Nicholson’s casting in Stanley Kubrick’s film. Doctor Sleep will be directed by Mike Flanagan, who also directed another King adaptation with Gerald’s Game, from a script he has written. Joining him is his regular producing partner Trevor Macy and Vertigo Entertainment’s Jon Berg.
Doctor Sleep follows an adult Danny Torrance 36 years after the original novel. Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel, where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant shining power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.” There Dan meets Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival.
Doctor Sleep will be released on January 24th, 2020.
