'The Shining' Sequel 'Doctor Sleep' Sets Mike Flanagan as Director

Director Mike Flanagan is going back into the world of Stephen King.

Warner Bros. has tapped Flanagan to direct The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The film will adapt King's 2013 novel, which follows Danny Torrance, now an adult and battling  alcoholism and dealing with the trauma of what happened to him as a child in a certain haunted Colorado hotel. Along the way, he's presented with an opportunity to use the shining power he discovered in the first book in a way that can help a young girl.

Flanagan directed the well received King adaptation Gerald's Game for Netflix, which was released last year, and has built a reputation for thoughtful horror through films such as Oculus (2013), Before I Wake (2016) and Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016). 

The Shining, published in 1977, was adapted by Stanley Kubrick into the classic 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer who agrees to become the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel during its off season, bringing his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) with him. Things do not go well from there.

For Warner Bros., Doctor Sleep follows the studio's big success with last year's King adaptation It, which earned more than $700 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. A sequel has been set for Sept. 6, 2019.