When a new Stephen King book is released, the safe bet is on Hollywood quickly taking action. His symbiotic relationship with the film/television industry is evident by upcoming Stephen King projects in the works, and has been active since Carrie''s release in the mid-1970s… so is anyone really surprised to learn that a Fairy Tale TV show is in the works?
An adaptation has been in the works since just after the novel first hit shelves, undergoing some significant changes behind the scenes since while still remaining in active development. So when can we expect to see the adaptation of Fairy Tale hitting the upcoming TV schedule? What is it about? And who is making it?
We’ve put together this feature to address all of those questions and more, and we will continue to update and add to this article as more details are revealed and we get closer and closer to Fairy Tale's eventual release.
What Is Fairy Tale’s Release Date?
Stephen King fans are going to have to exhibit a bit of patience with Fairy Tale. While the show is in active development, an official release date has not yet been announced. That likely won’t change until after production begins – and it feels like a fair bet that we won’t get to see it before 2026.
For those of you in need of a regular King fix, however, you need not fear, as there are plenty of adaptations on the way in the coming months to satisfy your cravings – including:
- Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey (arriving in theaters February 2025)
- Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck (on tap for summer 2025)
- Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (scheduled for release in November 2025)
- Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk (which has completed production)
- HBO's IT prequel series Welcome To Derry
- MGM+'s series The Institute
What Is Fairy Tale About?
While Stephen King’s name will forever be associated with horror fiction, Fairy Tale – as you might guess from the title – is fare of a different genre variety. Following other titles including The Eyes Of The Dragon and The Talisman, the 2022 novel is a work of fantasy, though it’s also very much a coming-of-age story and has a good number of scary moments between its covers.
Protagonist Charlie Reade is an Illinois teen whose life changes dramatically one day during a walk when he's alerted to an emergency by a dog's distressed barking. He discovers that his elderly neighbor Howard Bowditch has had an accident, and not only does he help the man get to a hospital, he also ends up agreeing to take care of the dog – a German Shepherd named Radar – while Howard recovers.
At first, Charlie simply feels he owes a debt to the universe because his widower father is finally sober after years of grief-fueled alcohol abuse, but the protagonist ends up growing close with the old man. It’s only after Howard dies, however, that the teen is drawn to a magical secret: a locked shed in the backyard protecting a portal to an alternate universe called Empis, where a special sundial exists that can reverse the aging process.
With Radar growing old and Charlie unwilling to lose another friend, the teen decides that he is going to travel to the parallel world and save the dog – but what truly awaits him is a wild reality where he discovers his true destiny as a hero worthy of a classic fairy tale.
Who Is Making Fairy Tale?
Some Stephen King adaptations have been known to move through development exceptionally fast — John Carpenter got a pre-release copy of the novel Christine and the movie hit theaters less than eight months after the book’s publication — but others have been known to hit speedbumps along the way. Fairy Tale is a project that fits into the latter category. As noted earlier, the adaptation was announced mere days after the source material hit stores, but the project has undergone some significant behind-the-scenes changes since then.
In September 2022, it was announced that writer/director Paul Greengrass was attached to make Fairy Tale as a feature film – his first crack at adapting the work of Stephen King – and things looked exceptionally promising for the project just a few weeks later when it was announced that Universal Pictures won a “heated auction” to produce and distribute. (The studio had an established working relationship with the filmmaker via the Bourne franchise, United 93, and News Of The World). Unfortunately, the movie lost momentum after that point.
The good news is that the project didn’t just die in development hell – as you can probably gather from the fact that you are reading this article about it. Instead, it has merely changed forms. In October 2024, two years after development started, it was reported that the adaptation will no longer be a movie and instead Fairy Tale is now becoming a 10-part miniseries. Paul Greengrass is still attached as a writer, and there are deals in the works that will see him direct episodes of the show as well. He is collaborating with Fringe and Almost Human writer J.H. Wyman to expand his existing feature screenplay, and Wyman will serve as the miniseries’ showrunner.
Also significant is that Universal Pictures is no longer involved. When it was deemed impossible for Fairy Tale to be made as a film, the studio opted to let the project go, and it is now being produced as a show by A24. It will be the first Stephen King adaptation produced by the indie label.
Who Is Set To Star In Fairy Tale?
Still being in early development as a miniseries, Fairy Tale has not yet reached the point where it has started the casting process. As such, there aren’t currently any actors attached to star in the show. Finding a young star to play Charlie Reade will be paramount for the production, but there are a number of rich roles to fill, including the aforementioned Howard Boditch and the colorful characters the protagonist meets while in the world of Empis.
We will continue to update this feature as Fairy Tale takes further steps through development and we learn more about it. Stay tuned!