With Frank Darabont having such a fantastic adaptation of Stephen King’s novella ‘The Mist‘ it seems that Christian Torpe is taking the TV series in a different direction. With how well received it was by critics, they would have to go an original route to avoid comparison. Whatever he’s done though had King approving it so we might have something to look forward to. With Spike TV’s original programming leaning towards science fiction and horror I am quite eager to see if they can pull off the same level of quality that Syfy has been doing in recent years with shows like ‘The Expanse.’
When asked if the series would be based on the novella or movie and if it would be a starting point to the series, Torpe shared quite a few details:
“I’ll take these two questions together as they really are two sides of the same coin. Adapting a book, especially a book by someone I love and respect as much as Mr. King, is, well, horrifying. You want to be respectful of the material, but in this case, there was already one brilliant adaptation of it by Frank Darabont. No point in doing that again. So the question becomes do you leave it, say that it’s already been done, or do you allow yourself to take the source material and reimagine it but staying true to Mr. King’s vision? I chose the latter. It is not the same story as in the book and the movie, nor is it the same characters – but fans of the story will still see clear parallels. I’ve compared it to the way they approached adapting Fargo, not in terms of content, but in how they played with the original material. Some things are exactly the same, some are totally different. Some things you think are the same as in the original, but turn out to be something else entirely. Some things you think make no sense at first but end up tying into the original story. It’s an interesting way of working, in a way you are constantly communicating with the fans in a constant ebb and flow from the original story. Mr. King was incredibly kind in terms of these changes, he told me that as long as I didn’t do anything safe and ordinary, he would be happy. That is one of the most generous things I have experienced.”
While the monsters took a long time to show up in King’s film, it doesn’t seem as if we’ll suffer that same fate in the show as:
“We ended up with a good 1600+ VFX shots in season one. That is A LOT. Majority of these are shots is the mist itself, though. We didn’t want it too feel too smoke-machine-y so adding a sense of movement to it, an organic quality without going to magical territory, is something we have worked a lot with. As for what is in the mist and how much we see – you’ll have to wait and see!”
He also shared that this was going to be an ongoing series and not a single season so if ratings are up we should have a lot to look forward to. If King’s response to the series is any indication of if the fans will like it though it sounds like we’ll be getting a few seasons at the very least:
“No words can explain the feeling of waking up and seeing an email from Stephen King in your inbox. It is as exciting and as scary as reading ”It” when you were 12. He was such a gentleman, incredibly generous in terms of the changes I have made. He has also read and seen the pilot and thought it was ”pretty damn good”. Hoping and praying he will continue to think that about the rest of the show!”
The more Torpe spoke, the more it seemed as if he’ll be taking inspiration from the novel while spinning his own story. If he can keep King’s tone and pacing it might very well work, though if it ends up anything like ‘Under the Dome‘ it could be another series that fans can’t even manage to finish watching.
Are you looking forward to ‘The Mist?’ What do you think of how Torpe is handling the series? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Lilja’s Library
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
