Stephen King Movie and TV Multiverse Explained

Stephen King’s novels and short stories weave together in ways that have carried over into film and television. More than 67 books and novellas and roughly 200 short stories have seen screen adaptations, and recurring locations, characters, and references give many of those projects a shared, multiversal feel even without an official cinematic universe.

Some connections are easy to spot: The Shining and Doctor Sleep, the It films and their prequel, and adaptations of The Stand and The Dark Tower share characters and themes. The movie 1922 is often cited as the chronological starting point for the screen multiverse because of its Hemingford Home setting, which links to Mother Abagail and even to the town of Gatlin from Children of the Corn.

Randall Flagg threads several stories together, appearing in The Dark Tower and The Stand and briefly in 11/22/63; Alexander Skarsgård’s portrayals of Flagg and of a similar figure, “The Kid” or “The Angel” in Castle Rock, have fueled debate about how tightly these pieces fit.

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