Stephen King Explains Why Steven Spielberg's Adaptation Of The Talisman Was Never Made

Steven Spielberg is one of the most beloved directors in the history of cinema. Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers in all of popular literature. A big collaboration between these two titans has always felt like a wonderful idea. Spielberg has tried hard to make it happen, as the "Jurassic Park" and "Lincoln" director has long held the rights to King and Peter Straub's book "The Talisman." Despite 40 years of trying, no movie ever materialized. Why not?

King was recently a guest on the latest episode of "The Kingcast," co-hosted by Eric Vespe and Anthony Breznican (who has taken over as co-host for the late, great Scott Wampler). In the episode, the author discussed Spielberg's never-realized film adaptation of the 1984 epic. Here's what King had to say about it:

"For 40 years man, Spielberg talked about it. The discussions with Spielberg's rabbi, so to speak, Sid Sheinberg, were very difficult, and they were very argumentative. I was drinking a lot then and doing a lot of dope. He was very adamant that he was going to take care of Stephen and not let Stephen, like a child, take too much on his plate."

Sheinberg was a then-Universal executive who was credited with discovering Spielberg and became one of his trusted collaborators over the years. As Spielberg explained in a 2018 interview, he outright owns the rights to "The Talisman" thanks to Universal. "Universal bought [The Talisman] for me, so it wasn't optioned. It was an outright sale of the book ... I've owned the book since '82," the filmmaker explained.

King added in the interview, "I thought, okay, we're talking about a grown up man here, a creative person, why don't you just step aside and let us do our thing? It just never worked out" For those who may not be familiar, the synopsis for "The Talisman" reads as follows:

Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer embarks on an epic quest — a walk from the seacoast of New Hampshire to the California coast — to find the talisman that will save his dying mother's life. Jack's journey takes him into the Territories, a parallel medieval universe, where most people from his own universe have analogs called "twinners." The queen of the Territories, Jack's mother's twinner, is also dying.

King has since changed the way that he handles people adapting his work. Generally, he won't let someone hold onto the rights for long, and he doesn't let them have more than one story at a time. (Mike Flanagan being allowed to adapt "Life of Chuck" and "Dark Tower" at the same time is a notable exception.) As King also explained in the interview, he isn't trying to make a fortune on the rights themselves:

"I've never charged people outrageous amounts of money for anything that I wrote. I just sort of send it out there and you hope that something will grow. I never expected 'The Monkey,' for instance, to get made the way it got made. It had been optioned and dropped a number of times over the years."

For context, "Longlegs" director Oz Perkins has his film version of "The Monkey" hitting theaters in February. King went on to note that several of his novels and short stories have been optioned many times over the years yet have never made it to screen, with the "From a Buick 8" film adaptation, which was at one point going to be directed by Jim Mickle, being mentioned as one example. But none of those other adaptations are as elusive as "The Talisman," in no small part because Spielberg has retained the rights for so long, leaving him in the driver's seat.

Over the years, other filmmakers have come close, including Josh Boone ("The New Mutants," "The Stand") and Mike Barker ("The Handmaid's Tale"), who almost got a "Talisman" movie adaptation going in 2019. As it currently stands, however, things have changed and the project is now being developed as a TV show rather than a movie. It's also going to be for a streaming service.

Indeed, Netflix cut a deal with Spielberg in 2021 that would see the Duffer Brothers ("Stranger Things") turning "The Talisman" into a TV show. King said he didn't know anything about the Duffers' current plans at Netflix, but they are currently trying to wrap up the fifth and final season of "Stranger Things," which arrives later this year. After that, it seems like this could well be their next project, but that has yet to be firmed up.

Netflix's "The Talisman" TV show remains without a release date, but you can grab a copy of the original book on Amazon.