Prime Video Officially Turns Stephen King’s Forgotten ’80s Masterpiece Into 6-Part Supernatural Thriller

It’s rarely a bad time to be a Stephen King fan. The author published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974, and an iconic movie adaptation came out a couple of years later. Since then, there’s been a non-stop stream of adaptations up to today. There’s a new season of IT: Welcome to Derry on the way, MGM+ is currently airing the second season of The Institute, and Mike Flanagan is working on an adaptation of King’s epic Dark Tower series.

Amazon Prime Video has also participated in the current Stephen King renaissance, dropping all eight episodes of a new Carrie TV series back in October. According to Polygon, Prime Video is also working on a new series based on “Crouch End,” a short story that first appeared in the 1980 anthology New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. It was later published in King’s 1993 short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.

The original story is about an American couple who go on a trip to London, meaning that the story is one of the few works by Stephen King that has nothing to do with Maine. Doris, the wife, stumbles into a police station and tells a harrowing tale: she and her husband, Lonnie, were walking around the North London neighborhood of Crouch End when they found themselves in some kind of sinister alternate reality. There are visits from creepy children, a cat with a scarred face, and an alien sky. Doris makes it out to tell the police about her ordeal, but Lonnie may not be so lucky.

The police officers discuss whether to believe Doris, and go on their own adventure. The story was previously adapted as the second episode of the TNT TV series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, with Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey playing the couple. The Prime Video series will stretch the story out so it covers six episodes.

No casting for the new show has been announced, nor do we have a release date. However, we do know that the story is being adapted by Paul Tomalin (Bodies) and that the show will be directed by Tom Shankland (The Serpent). We also know of at least one change being made to the source material. The official description mentions that, in this version, Doris is a “global movie star,” whereas in the original story, her job is not mentioned.

Officially, Crouch End is part of H.P. Lovecraft’s extended horror universe, which the author encouraged others to contribute to before his death in 1937. Crouch End may even include an appearance by Shub-Niggurath, a dread goddess conceived of by Lovecraft himself. It remains to be seen whether the Prime Video show will include these kinds of direct references or file off the serial numbers so the show stands on its own.

In any case, Prime Video is clearly going all in on Stephen King. The streaming service is behind that Dark Tower adaptation, and a second season of the Carrie show is on the way.