Before Doctor Sleep was a critically acclaimed movie, it was a book by Stephen King, and here’s why the legendary author decided to write it. An incredibly prolific literary force, King has written over 60 full-length novels, and more than 200 short stories, but one thing he’s rarely done is write sequels to his work. While lots of King movie adaptations have gotten sequels, they’re almost always not based on the author’s work, and instead use his prior material as a jumping off point for an original follow-up.
This sometimes vexes King’s constant readers, who would love to return to Derry for an IT sequel, or spend more time in the post-apocalyptic world of The Stand. For the most part though, King allows his stories to rest in peace once completed, with the major exception being the long-running Dark Tower saga of novels. One book that did finally get a sequel from King was The Shining, although it was a very different story than its progenitor, and took place decades later.
Doctor Sleep hit store shelves on September 24, 2013, over 36 years after the January 1977 publication of The Shining. So, what made King go against his usual instinct not to do sequels? It turns out questions from his own fans played a part.
Doctor Sleep: Why Stephen King Wrote A Shining Sequel
According to King himself, many fans would come up to him at book signings in the decades following The Shining’s publication, and ask him what the character of Danny Torrance would be doing by that point. The Shining ends with Danny still a young boy, leaving basically his entire life open to expanding upon. While King would often give not-so-serious answers to such queries, including suggesting that Danny grew up to marry Firestarter’s psychically-gifted girl Charlie McGee, he eventually found himself intrigued by the notion of what Danny might do as an adult.
Additionally, King, himself a former alcoholic who’s been sober since the late 1980s, found himself wondering what might’ve happened to Jack Torrance had he ended up turning his life around via Alcoholics Anonymous as King had managed to do. Since Jack died in The Shining, King chose to explore this possibility while also looking at Danny’s adult life, as well as learning along the way what happened to the character of Wendy Torrance. These questions are also answered in the recent Doctor Sleep movie adaptation, but not necessarily in the same way, as director Mike Flanagan altered King’s book to be in line with events from Stanley Kubrick’s iconic The Shining movie.
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