8 Stephen King Adaptations With Major Changes From the Books

“The Long Walk” – Winner of The Long Walk

“The Long Walk” film made a pretty serious deviation from the book – who ends up winning The Walk itself. In the book it’s Ray Garraty, who’s head the reader throughout the story. He ends up winning and shuffles off ready for his riches but is also too mentally destroyed to likely ever enjoy them.

In the movie, Ray decides to stop walking so that Pete McVries – who ends up dying second to last in the book – can win, get his wish from The Major, and hopefully start a revolution against whatever unnamed oppressive issues that are plaguing this version of America. Pete also kills The Major at the end of the film which does not happen in the book.

“It: Chapter Two” – Richie and Eddie’s relationship

“It” has some subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle allusions to two members of The Loser’s Club – Richie Tozier and Eddie Kasbrak – having feelings for each other as boys that crop back up as adults. “It: Chapter Two” turns that subtext into text. The pair still talk around it a bit but it’s much more obvious the two are in love with each other and have been for decades.

This extra detail also makes Eddie’s death at the end hit that much harder.

“The Shining” – A lot

It is well-trod territory that Stephen King is no great fan of Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining.” Most of the author’s complaints were, he perceived, Kubrick’s misunderstanding of the character and the many changes made from that misunderstanding. In the book, Jack Torrance is a troubled man who loses his way the longer he stays at The Overlook. In the movie, Jack starts as an asshole and just gets worse from there.

The film’s ending also gnawed at King. He famously said “the book is hot and the movie is cold; the book ends in fire and the movie in ice.” The Overlook’s fate is changed in the film – it gets burned down in the book, but survives while Jack freezes to death in the hedge maze outside in the movie.

“Cujo” – Tad survives

“Cujo” is perhaps most famous for being the book King has no memory of cranking out over a few days while delirious on cocaine and booze. That the story is such a ride is a Herculean feat of its own. Pardon the pun, but the movie takes some of the teeth away from Cujo when it changes the fate of the little boy Tad.

In the movie, Tad and his mother – played by Dee Williams in maybe her best performance – survive their three-day prison stuck in their broken car during a heatwave as the rabid Cujo tries to get to them. In both the book and the movie, Tad suffers from heatstroke, but in the book by the time the Castle Rock sheriffs show up and save the family the boy is already dead.

“Pet Sematary” (2019) – Ellie dies and is resurrected instead of gage

“Pet Sematary” is one of King’s stories that has largely bled into the public consciousness. The concept, the quote “sometimes dead is better,” and particularly the little boy’s death at the hands of a semi truck are all well-known moments.

The underrated 2019 adaptation of the story switched things up a bit by having a fake out death. The Creed’s boy Gage ends up being saved from being hit by the truck only to have the older sister hit moments later. The rest of the story isn’t changed much: the kid still gets resurrected, the kid still murders Maine’s own Jud Crandall, but in the end the girl drags the rest of the now-murdered Creed family to the Sematary to come back too.

“The Mist” – A much darker ending

“The Mist” adaptation takes a bleak story and snuffs out any glimmer of hope with the ending. The novella offers the briefest possibility that things might turn around as David and a group of survivors set out into the titular mist and hear a radio transmission that a town called Hartford might be a safe haven.

Frank Darabont’s film snuffs out that flickering hope. After driving through the mist for days, David and his survivors – including his son – agree to just give in. One by one David consensually kills everyone in his car knowing that his death will have to come at the hands of the monsters. He steps out of the car to accept his fate just as the mist fades and the military rolls through. A few more seconds of deliberation and everyone would have made it out alive.

“The Running Man” – The whole thing

This one is pretty straightforward. If you’ve seen “The Running Man” starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar and read “The Running Man” by Stephen King you’ve just experienced two entirely different stories with very little in common. The good news is if you were putting off one or the other you’re free to jump right in and enjoy something wholly new.

“Doctor Sleep” – Danny dies at The Overlook

As a sequel to “The Shining,” Mike Flanagan pulled off an impressive feat making his adaptation feel like a successful follow-up to both the book and movie versions. In doing so, the film had to grapple with some of the inconsistencies in story that Kubrick’s adaptation made to King’s text.

Chief among them is The Overlook, which again was not destroyed in the movie but was in the book. Danny makes it to Colorado for his confrontation with emotional vampire Rose the Hat but in the process of finally defeating her and the True Knot, he dies.

In the book, Danny survives his fight with Rose and even gets an assist in the final struggle from the spirit of his dad.