Hollywood has spent the last week figuring out how to properly operate amid the on-going devastation of the fires in Los Angeles, and one consequence of the horrific natural disaster has been delays in award season: in light of the tragedy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has both extended the voting period for the Oscars and pushed the scheduled date for nomination announcements (originally January 17, it has now been moved to January 23). These calls were made out of respect for those in the film industry who have suffered tremendous losses in the last few days – but Stephen King has publicly wondered if enough deference is being shown and has suggested that the entire show this year should be cancelled.
But is that the right call? That is one of the three main headlines I have lined up in this week’s edition of The King Beat. In addition to King’s thoughts about 9th Academy Awards, the author has also offered an update about his work on the untitled The Talisman 3 and the release of director Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man in theaters has me thinking that an underrated book should be taken into consideration for a new adaptation. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dig in!
Stephen King Says He Won’t Be Voting For The Oscars This Year, But Supports The Show Becoming A Charity-Centric Event
Is Los Angeles in a state right now to celebrate all of the fabled glamor of Hollywood? This has been a hotly debated topic on social media in the last few days, and Stephen King has thrown his two cents into the public discussion in support of the negative. As the struggle to contain the horrific fires in southern California continues, the author said via Bluesky this week that he plans to abstain from voting for this year’s Oscars and expressed his thoughts about the event continuing as scheduled. He wrote,
Not voting in the Oscars this year. IMHO they should cancel them. No glitz with Los Angeles on fire.
Normally, Stephen King is very much an engaged Academy voter. In 2021, he memorably lamented the challenge of the nomination process while movie theaters around the world remained closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he publicly expressed outrage last year when Greta Gerwig failed to get a Best Director nomination for Barbie. In 2025, however, he doesn’t feel that it’s appropriate for the film industry to throw a massive party while so many people in the industry’s main town are struggling so badly.
It’s an understandable and reasonable perspective – but also a debatable one. There’s no questioning that it’s not a great look to throw a massive party in a city that has been besieged by tragedy, but not to be ignored in this particular circumstance are the possibilities for good to be done. Between the event itself and the various parties that are thrown, there are a lot of employment opportunities that come out of the Oscars, and people who are struggling should not be deprived of those jobs. Also, the show will shine a light on the city, and the broadcast can be used to spread awareness about charitable organizations and information about how to help people in need.
For what it’s worth, a Bluesky user responded to Stephen King’s post suggesting that the 97th Academy Awards be used as a Farm Aid-style show to raise awareness and gather donations, and the author responded by quote posting with the caption, “Dig it, yeah.”
While nominations have been briefly postponed, the Oscars is currently scheduled to air as originally planned on March 2 with Conan O’Brien lined up as the host.
Stephen King Provides Fans With An Update On His Progress With The Talisman 3
It has now been almost a quarter-of-a-century since Stephen King’s Constant Readers got to go on an adventure with protagonist Jack Sawyer, but if we’re lucky, that drought will be coming to an end in the coming years. In the summer of 2023, King teased that he was contemplating a sequel to his novels The Talisman and Black House (both books co-written by Peter Straub), and after a long wait, it seems the story is coming together. The author has avoided making any firm commitments about actually finishing and publishing the material, but it can be said for certain that ideas are being put down on paper, and we got our latest update about the potential tome this week.
Specifically, Stephen King took to his personal Threads account in the last couple of days to share that work on the book is on-going. While not exactly spilling his guts about how the writing process is going, he posted,
Beavering away on TALISMAN 3.
That’s obviously not much… but it wasn’t all that the author had to say about the developing novel. Keeping fans in the know about what’s going on, he not only reiterated that the story is inspired by an idea Peter Straub shared with him before he passed away in 2022, but that like The Talisman and Black House, the novel will feature a co-author credit:
[P]eter Straub had a terrific idea before passing away. Dual credit, as on THE TALISMAN and BLACK HOUSE. But as always, I can never be sure a book will be done until it is. This one has a long way to go.
For those who aren’t aware, this very much speaks to the way that Stephen King writes. While there are a lot of authors who don’t start a book until they have structured the whole thing out and know exactly where the story is going, that is not King’s method. Instead, he starts out with characters and basic ideas and lets them take him where they want to go. Obviously this has led him to a great deal of success in his career and is a process that works for him… but it also means that anything he works on has the potential to get stuck and never move forward (hence the hedging in his comments).
Assuming the work actually gets done, it could potentially be five or 10 years before Constant Readers get the chance to read The Talisman 3, and that’s a tough test of patience – but the silver lining is that we won’t have to wait nearly that long for the author’s latest work. Instead, we’re now just a few month away from that wonderful opportunity, as Never Flinch – the latest book about oddball detective Holly Gibney – is scheduled to arrive in stores everywhere on May 27.
A Second Reboot Of The Wolf Man Is In Theaters This Weekend, But When Can We Finally Get A Cycle Of The Werewolf Remake?
Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man is arriving in theaters this coming weekend, and if I’m being honest, I’m not a big fan of the film. As I noted in my two-star CinemaBlend review, there are cool things that the new horror movie does well, particularly in the effects department, and it has some novel ideas in approaching a classic monster story, but it also feels scattershot in its construction and manipulates mythos to the point where it ceases to properly qualify as part of the long canon of werewolf cinema. I walked away from it with feelings of disappointment – but I now find myself wanting more than ever to see Hollywood tackle a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Cycle Of The Werewolf into either a new feature or possibly as a limited series.
For those of you unfamiliar with the title, Cycle Of The Werewolf was first published in 1983 – and it wasn’t actually meant to be a book. As initially conceived, the story was supposed to be included in an illustrated calendar created in collaboration with artist Bernie Wrightson, but King’s imagination overflowed and the original assignment of a dozen 500-word vignettes became a novella. Taking some liberties with how the phases of the moon work, each chapter highlights monthly events in the small town of Tarker’s Mill, Maine, which is set upon by a deadly lycanthrope who can ultimately only be stopped by paraplegic 10-year-old hero Marty Coslaw.
The author himself adapted the story as a screenplay in 1985, changing the title to Silver Bullet, and while it’s a serviceable film, it’s also material hungry for a remake. As I noted in my Adapting Stephen King column about the project, behind-the-scenes debates between director Daniel Attias and producer Dino De Laurentiis about the tone of the movie left it ultimately feeling a bit schizophrenic – stuck between being a kid-friendly monster flick and a gruesome horror show full of bloody violence – but the story is terrific, and in the hands of the right director, a new adaptation could be terrific.
For what it’s worth, interest in developing this remake does exist. When I spoke with Firestarter remake director Keith Thomas a few years ago, he cited Cycle Of The Werewolf as an ideal follow-up King project he would love to make, and filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier outed himself as a fan of the specific book last fall when King shared his appreciation for Saulnier’s Netflix original Rebel Ridge. Nothing is in active development as far as I know, but it would be wonderful to see what could be made with the material. The book is short enough that a new film version would make plenty of sense, but if a streamer or TV network wanted to be really bold, it would be amazing to see a 12-episode miniseries with each chapter featuring events that transpire in a single calendar month. I’m keeping fingers crossed.
That wraps up this edition of The King Beat, but there isn’t a week that goes by without some kind of cool development from the world of Stephen King, and I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with a new roundup of all the biggest stories. While you wait for my next column, you can discover all of the super exciting projects based on the author’s books/stories that are on the way with our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide.