MGM+’s adaptation of Stephen King’s (It, The Shining) The Institute has received additional casting updates, according to Deadline. Back in August 2024, actors Jason Diaz (The 100, Charmed) and Simon Miller (Studly Vegan, Gossip Girl) were announced to join the cast via mxdwn. Now, eleven more cast members have been revealed as part of The Institute’s mysterious entrapment.
Following the premise of King’s novel, The Institute follows 12-year-old Luke Ellis, played by Joe Freeman (Someone Else in the Evening, Payback Jack), as he finds himself imprisoned in a strange facility dubbed The Institute. According to mxdwn, Luke and the other children he is trapped with band together to find answers, assuming it has something to do with everyone’s extraordinary abilities. Tim Jamieson, a jaded ex-police officer who finds himself entangled with Luke’s story, is key to navigating Luke’s new world.
Deadline elaborates on series details, sharing that in the series, “Luke is a 14-year-old genius who happens also to be mildly telekenetic, Luke finds himself snatched from his bedroom and plunged into the depths of The Institute, a shadowy organization that has been kidnapping children with psychic ability and using them for some unknown purpose. The Institute doesn’t care at all about Luke’s intellect (or, for that matter, his gentle kindness and good humor), but it will be those qualities that help him survive.”
Joining the cast are the talents of actors and actresses Julian Richings (The Umbrella Academy, Beau Is Afraid), Dan Beirne (One More Time, Ginny & Georgia), Joe Freeman (Payback Jack, Doctors), Robert Joy (Julia, Land of the Dead), Hannah Galway (Sex/Life, Under the Banner of Heaven), Birva Pandya (Level 16, The Umbrella Academy), Fionn Laird (Under the Banner of Heaven), Jane Luk (The Handmaid’s Tale, Streams Flow From A River), Viggo Hanvelt (Single All The Way, Plan B), Martin Roach (The Shape of Water, The Umbrella Academy) and Arlen So (Something Rotten) via Deadline.
According to Deadline, Richings will star as The Institute’s main security, Stackhouse. Beirne will play a police officer in the same department as Tim named Drew. Joy will star as the doctor responsible for research, with the name Hendricks. Galway will play a hometown police officer named Wendy. Pandya will star as the first child Luke will encounter at The Institute, named Iris. Laird will play the rebel at The Institute with the name Nick. Luk will star as a fellow Institute detainee named Maureen, who has a tragic backstory. Hanvelt will star as the youngest and most powerful child detainee at The Institute, named Avery. Roach will play the Chief of Police, Chief Ashworth. So will star as The Institute’s comic relief, named George.”
While a release date has not yet been confirmed, The Institute will have an eight-episode release per Deadline.