Stephen King and Peter Straub’s co-authored 1984 novel The Talisman is being adapted into a Netflix series by Steven Spielberg (E.T.) and the Matt and Ross Duffer (Stranger Things), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Spielberg has owned the screen rights for the book since 1982, two years before it was published.
The novel follows Jack Sawyer, a twelve-year-old boy who searches for the talisman, an object that can save his mother’s life and the entire world. In his road-trip endeavor to find the talisman, Jack crosses between our world and a parallel fantasy world known as The Territories.
Curtis Gwinn, a writer and executive producer on Stranger Things, will write and serve as showrunner for the adaptation. The Duffer brothers will executive produce through their Monkey Massacre Productions, alongside Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (The Americans, Into the West) through Amblin Television. King and Paramount Television will also executive produce.
The Talisman was once in development at TNT for a miniseries, but the plans fell through, according to Deadline.
Season four of the Duffer brothers’ Stranger Things is in the works right now at Netflix. After resuming production in October, the season is expected to release in either late 2021 or early 2022.