Much like the ghostly residents of the Overlook Hotel, a show based on the famed location has died — but is (most likely) coming back to life. Last year, news broke that as part of his company’s deal with WarnerMedia, J.J. Abrams was developing a show called Overlook based on Stephen King’s The Shining.
The show was set to go on HBO Max but reports are that Max has now passed on the show and is allowing its competitors to have a stab at it. And, to no one’s surprise, Netflix is apparently leading the pack.
Overlook was set to be a 10-episode horror show about the hotel in which The Shining takes place. So not a retelling of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining or its Mike Flanagan-directed sequel Doctor Sleep, but almost a step back to reveal other horrific stories that happened there, which could include characters from The Shining. It’s an interesting, marketable concept so it seems odd HBO Max would decide not to move forward with it — and even if Netflix doesn’t pick it up, someone is likely to. Names like Abrams and King are too recognisable to pass up.
Abrams and his Bad Robot company still continue to work with Warner under his massive overall deal. He’s got shows still coming to HBO Max (like the highly anticipated Justice League Dark) as well the first show Abrams himself has created in over a decade, Demimonde, a sci-fi show coming to HBO.
Then of course there’s still that animated Batman show, more Westworld — all of the things he’s already been working on. Plus, that new Superman movie and probably other things that haven’t been made public yet. So Warner is still very much in the J.J. Abrams business; the company is simply checking out of Overlook.
We’ll update this story if and when there’s more news.