Doctor Sleep, the sequel to Stephen King's epic 1977 novel, The Shining, is being adapted for the big screen at Warner Bros., and a writer for the adapted screenplay has now been revealed.

The Tracking Board reports that Akiva Goldsman has been set to write the screenplay adaptation of King's 2013 novel Doctor Sleep, which follows a grown-up Danny Torrance, who, with the Overlook Hotel and his father's descent into madness decades in the rearview mirror, now works at a nursing home and must face a creepy collection of people known as The True Knot.

Stephen King will executive produce the Doctor Sleep film, with Jon Berg and Jon Gonda supervising the project on behalf of Warner Bros. A release date and director have yet to be revealed, but we'll keep Daily Dead readers updated on future details.

Goldsman is no stranger to King's work, having contributed to one of the earlier versions of the screenplay for the upcoming movie adaptation of The Dark Tower series. Goldsman has quite a bit of experience adapting novels, having previously worked on the screenplays for I Am Legend, I, Robot, The Client, and more. He also helped write the upcoming horror movie Rings, the latest film in the Samara-centric franchise.

For those unfamiliar with Doctor Sleep, we have the official synopsis (via StephenKing.com):

"On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon."

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.