Toby Jones' Ollie looking worried and holding a lantern near a flying bug in The Mist NYCC

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Flanagan has an intriguing update on his new adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist.

First published in 1980, King's novella primarily centered on artist David Drayton and his son Billy as their journey to their local supermarket following a severe thunderstorm becomes a nightmare when a dense mist overtakes their small Maine town and unleashes a whole host of monstrous creatures. With nowhere left to go, and a large group of the town's residents trapped in the town, The Mist becomes a journey of survival and exploration of mass hysteria and religious fanaticism.

King's story first made its way to the screen with the 2007 film from frequent collaborator Frank Darabont, which was a critical and commercial success and scored rave reception from the author for its darker ending. The horror book would get a second adaptation in Spike's Mist TV series, which scored mixed reviews and was cancelled after just one season, with news then coming in February 2026 that Flanagan had been tapped to write and direct a new film iteration for Warner Bros.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns for the New York Comic Con premiere of The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer, Flanagan was asked about his approach to adapting King's The Mist. The writer/director clarified that the project is still in the "pretty early days" of development, but warmly shared that "I love Frank Darabont's movie so much," praising the three-time Oscar nominee for having done "such an incredible job" adapting the 46-year-old novella for the screen.

Flanagan went on to express that there is "no point in doing what's been done," and is therefore looking to "do something new" with his adaptation of The Mist, much in the way he sought to change up The Exorcist formula with his Martrys reboot, including taking the opportunity to amplify one element of the novel:

Mike Flanagan: The world of Lovecraftian terror that King created with The Mist, I think, is so rife with possibility. So, yeah, playing with the nature of the monsters, playing with the claustrophobia of the situation, without trying to step into Frank's shadow is some of the most fun I get to have with it.

Though King is one of the most prolific authors in the horror genre with a style unto his own, he has certainly found himself infusing Lovecraftian elements into some of his novels. The Mist, in particular, remains one of the works most clearly inspired by his genre predecessor, thanks in large part to the unexplained realm from which the creatures originate, to the general fear of the unknown as David and those around him prove afraid to leave the store because of not knowing what lies beyond.

When it comes to tapping into the Lovecraftian terror of King's novel, Darabont's The Mist film hewed much closer to the source material than the short-lived TV series, as the latter primarily made its terrors psychological-based with apparitions of those tied to the various characters. The former, meanwhile, leaned into the mysterious creatures of the alternate realm, with everything from an unseen monster with tentacles to pterodactyl-like monsters, among many others.

Beyond just the promise of leaning into the Lovecraftian elements of King's novel, Flanagan's promise of doing something both different and faithful with The Mist should come as an encouraging sign for fans of the book. There were previous doubts about his ability to do so with his Carrie miniseries on Prime Video, given three adaptations had already been produced, and yet critics have been largely glowing in their reviews for the show, thus proving he's more than capable of bringing an entirely new take to a well-adapted property.

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Mike Flanagan's Next Stephen King Remake Will Lean Into The "Lovecraftian Terror" Of 46-Year-Old Classic