Summary
- Mark Hamill stars in The Life of Chuck & The Long Walk adaptations.
- The Life of Chuck & The Long Walk films have similarities beyond King’s involvement.
- Hamill’s roles in these projects will showcase his range as an actor.
Stephen King’s works continue to be the source of inspiration for many TV shows and movies, and among the upcoming adaptations are two that have cast Mark Hamill, becoming the new go-to actor for Stephen King movies. For decades, the King of Horror has brought a variety of horror stories that have allowed generations of readers to explore different fears and places and meet all kinds of characters. King’s works have been adapted to other media for decades, and among the ones currently in development are The Life of Chuck and The Long Walk.
The Life of Chuck is a novella published in the 2020 collection If It Bleeds. The Life of Chuck wrapped filming in November 2023 and is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. After many delays, King’s 1979 novel The Long Walk is finally getting a film adaptation with Francis Lawrence as director. The film adaptations of The Life of Chuck and The Long Walk have more than just Stephen King in common, as they both have Mark Hamill in their casts, becoming the surprising go-to actor for Stephen King adaptations in 2024 and 2025.
Related
Every Upcoming Stephen King Movie
There are many more upcoming Stephen King movie adaptations that are currently in development, some of which are expected for a 2024 or 2025 release.
Mark Hamill Is Starring In The Long Walk After The Life Of Chuck
Mark Hamill Has Two Stephen King Projects Coming Up
Mark Hamill will play Albie in The Life of Chuck, Chuck’s grandfather.
The Life of Chuck is directed by Mike Flanagan, who also wrote the script. The Life of Chuck stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, whose life in the novella is chronicled in three acts given in reverse chronological order. In order, The Life of Chuck starts with orphan Chuck being raised by his paternal grandparents, who kept their house’s cupola locked – but one day, Chuck unlocked the room and saw himself as an adult dying of a brain tumor. What follows is Chuck’s life, his love for dancing, and the strange events around his death. Mark Hamill will play Albie, Chuck’s grandfather.
As mentioned above, The Long Walk film adaptation has gone through many delays since its announcement in 2018. The following year, André Øvredal was announced as director of the project, but no more updates on its development were given. In 2023, Øvredal was no longer attached to The Long Walk and Francis Lawrence was announced as his replacement, and some time later, the rights lapsed from New Line Cinema and moved to Lionsgate. The Long Walk is finally in active development and has announced its first cast members, among them Mark Hamill.
George A. Romero was considered to direct the film adaptation of
The Long Walk
in 1988, but the project never moved forward. In 2007, Frank Darabont got the rights to it, but it was never made.
Mark Hamill’s Stephen King Roles Will Likely Be Very Different
Mark Hamill’s Range Will Shine In His Stephen King Roles
Albie and his wife, Sarah, were loving parent figures to Chuck, but they had some dark secrets.
Despite being characters created by Stephen King, they will be very different and thus will show Mark Hamill’s range. Hamill’s character in The Life of Chuck, Albie, is an important presence during the first act/childhood of Chuck. Albie and his wife, Sarah, were loving parent figures to Chuck, but they had some dark secrets, including the possible presence of ghosts in their house. Hamill’s role in The Long Walk wasn’t revealed, but he’s most likely going to play The Major, a key but sinister character in the story.
The Major is the leader of the secret police force known as the Squads and he starts the Walk.
The Long Walk is set in a dystopian future where America is under a totalitarian regime. A major source of entertainment is the Long Walk, in which 100 teenage boys walk without rest along U.S. Route 1. Each contestant must stay above four miles per hour, and if they drop below this speed for 30 seconds, they get a warning. After three warnings, and if they continue to lag behind for 30 seconds, they are killed by soldiers. The last surviving “walker” earns a large sum of money and a prize of his choice.
The Major is the leader of the secret police force known as the Squads and he starts the Walk, but as the story progresses, some dark secrets about The Major are revealed. While Albie is a benevolent figure, The Major is the opposite, so Mark Hamill’s upcoming Stephen King projects will give him a chance to play a character on the side of the main character and a more villainous one.
The Life of Chuck
Based on the short story written by Stephen King, The Life of Chuck is a drama/supernatural film by writer-director Mike Flanagan. Tom Hiddleston stars as the titular Charles Krantz and traverses three phases of his life, including his time spent growing up in a haunted house.
