2024 was a big year forStephen King, with new books, big plans announced for 2025, anniversaries, more adaptations of his works, and a lot more. The King of Horror has been terrorizing generations of readers for decades, with over sixty books and hundreds of short stories, either exploring fears in supernatural ways or in more grounded, realistic ways. King’s reign in the world of horror started in 1974 with the publishing ofCarrie, though it wasn’t the first novel he wrote – that honor belongs toThe Long Walk, published until 1979.
SinceCarrie, King has been unstoppable and consistently publishing novels and collections with short stories, of which many have been adapted to TV and film, sometimes more than once. 2024 was no exception, and fans of the King of Horror were treated to not only new short stories and novels by King but also big news about some of the many upcoming adaptations of his works. In addition to that, 2024 marked some big milestones in King’s career, and 2025 is already looking bright for King and his fans.
10Carrie Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary
The Book That Started It All
As mentioned above,Carriewas the first novel by Stephen King to be published and thus the one that kicked off his successful career.Carriewas published in 1974, and King originally wrote it with the intention of publishing it as a short story for the men’s magazineCavalier. However, King followed his wife’s, Tabitha, advice and expanded it into a novel.King based the character of Carrie Whiteon two girls he knew in high school: one was abused at school due to her family’s poverty and the other was a shy girl from a devoutly religious family (viaOn Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft, by King).
Every Stephen King Story Inspired By His Own Life
Stephen King mostly writes fictional horror stories, but in many cases, he has been inspired by events and people from his life.
Despite King’s beliefs that it wouldn’t succeed,Carrieinitially sold modestly but received positive reviews.Carriebecame a best-seller after the release of Brian de Palma’s 1976 movie adaptationstarring Sissy Spacek as the title character. The success and popularity ofCarrieled to it getting three more movies (including a remake of De Palma’s movie), a TV special, and stage musicals.
9Stephen King’s You Like It Darker Collection Debuts
A New Stephen King Collection Arrived In 2024
Stephen King published a new collection of short stories in 2024:You Like It Darker, published in May.The collection is formed by 12 stories (short stories and novellas), of which some had been previously published either in other anthology books, magazines, journals, or as ebooks.You Like It Darkerwas announced in November 2023 byEW, which also gave the first look at the cover, the titles of the stories, and an excerpt from the one titled “Rattlesnakes” (more on that one in a bit).
All Short Stories In Stephen King’s You Like It Darker Book, Ranked
You Like It Darker features a range of compelling stories from Stephen King, but some of these narratives are more memorable than others.
You Like It Darkerdebuted at #1 onThe New York Timesfiction best-seller list in the last week of May 2024, and it received praise from critics. What critics liked most aboutYou Like It Darkeris that it brings together new and old characters and settings, while exploring new horrors as King always does in his works. Surely, some stories would benefit from being developed further, but this shorter format is a nice tease.
8Stephen King Publishes A Cujo Sequel In You Like It Darker
You Like It Darker Has A Big Surprise
Stephen King isn’t an author known for writing sequels to his works, though he has written a couple, but he surprised his fans with a short sequel toCujoinYou Like It Darker.TitledRattlesnakes, the novella brings back Vic Trenton many years after the events ofCujo, where his four-year-old son, Tad, died from dehydration while trapped in a car with his mother, Donna, to protect themselves from the rabid dog Cujo. After Donna’s death, Vic moves to Florida, where he meets a woman named Alita, whose twin sons were killed by rattlesnakes.
After Alita’s sudden death,Vic begins to be haunted by the ghosts of the twins and rattlesnakes, while the police suspect he had something to do with Alita’s death.Rattlesnakeswas praised by critics, calling it “gut-wrenching”, “scary”, a “classic” King tale, and praising how it addresses the topic of grief.
7Stephen King Teases A Return To Mid-World & The Territories
More From One Of King’s Most Popular Worlds
One of Stephen King’s most popular non-horror books are those inThe Dark Towerseries. The series follows Roland, a lone gunslinger going after the Man in Black in an alternate universe combining the style and elements of classic Westerns and J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. The final book in the mainDark Towerseries was published in 2004, and in 2024, King teased a return to specific parts of this world.
Through his now-deleted Twitter/X account,Stephen King announced his return toThe Dark Tower, specifically Mid-World and the Territories. However, he added thathe didn’t know if it would “develop into anything”but expressed joy at returning to this world. It’s still unknown what King’s plans forThe Dark Towerare, but 2025 might bring more clarity to this project.
6Max’s Salem’s Lot Movie Hits The Streamer
Salem’s Lot Was Directed By Gary Dauberman
Many adaptations of Stephen King’s works are constantly in development, and in 2024, the first film adaptation ofSalem’s Lotwas released on Max. Written and directed by Gary Dauberman,Salem’s Lottook the audience back to 1975 and to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot, the hometown of writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman). Ben returns as he looks for inspiration for his new book, but his arrival coincides with a series of mysterious disappearances. It’s soon revealed that there’s a bloodthirsty vampire in town called Barlow, and he won’t stop until he fulfills his thirst.
Gary Dauberman was a writer and producer in Andy Muschietti’s adaptations ofIt.
Salem’s Lotwas delayed multiple times and finally found a home on Max, but it wasn’t well-received by critics, carrying a 46% critics score onRotten Tomatoes. While many praised its scary moments and visual style, most found that it lacks the terror and emotional depth of King’s 1975 novel.
5The Stand Anthology The End Of The World As We Know It Announced
A Project Unlike Any Other Stephen King Book
One of the most surprising Stephen King announcements in 2024 was that ofThe End of the World as We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. As the title says, it’s a collection of stories from the world of one of King’s most popular works:The Stand. This 1978 post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel takes place in a world where a deadly pandemic of weaponized influenza led society to gather into factions, each led by a personification of either good or evil.
Stephen King’s Anthology First Is Risky, But One Detail Inspires Confidence
Stephen King’s upcoming 2025 horror anthology The End of the World As We Know It is uniquely risky, yet that risk also inspires confidence.
What stands out about this project is that it’sthe first time that other authors will contribute to the lore of a Stephen King world. Among the authors contributing toThe End of the World as We Know Itare C. Robert Cargill, Wayne Brady, Chuck Wendig, Nat Cassidy, Meg Gardiner, and Sarah Langan.The Stand’s anthology is set for an August 2025 release and can already be preordered.
4Stephen King Announces Never Flinch For 2025
There Will Be More Stephen King In 2025
In addition toThe End of the World as We Know It, Stephen King will also publish a new novel in 2025. TitledNever Flinch, it’s a crime novel focusing on a recurring character in King’s world, especially his crime novels: Holly Gibney.Never Flinchwas announcedon Jun 02, 2025, withEWsharing an excerpt of it.Never Flinchfollows two stories, brought together by Holly.
The first one follows Detective Izzy Jaynes, who investigates a letter in which the author threatens to kill 13 innocents and one guilty, so she turns to Holly for help. The second one follows activist Kate McKay, who has been followed by a stalker who opposes her message of female empowerment, so Holly is hired as her bodyguard.Never Flinchwill be published on June 10, 2025.
3You Like It Darker Wins The Goodreads Choice Award For Best Horror Book Of 2024
You Like It Darker Was A Big Hit
You Like It Darkerwas a critical hit and a success with Stephen King’s readers, so much so that it was named theBest Horror Book of the Year.You Like It Darkerwas nominated at the Goodreads Choice Awards in the horror category, and it had some interesting company. In second place is Marcus Kliewer’sWe Used To Live Here, followed by T. King Fisher’sWhat Feasts At Night, Simone St. James’Murder Road, and Chuck Tingle’sBury Your Gays.
You Like It Darkerwon with 60,901 votes, and according toGoodreads, with this, Stephen King has a total of 11 career wins across four categories over the years. Between new stories, surprising sequels, and other fun connections to otherStephen King works, along with his signature narrative and horror style,You Like It Darkeris definitely a must-read.
2The Long Walk Movie Adaptation Finally Escaped Development Hell
The Long Walk Movie Adaptation Is Finally Happening
Many adaptations of Stephen King’s stories have been trapped in development hell for a long time, and one of them isThe Long Walk. A movie adaptation of the 1979 novel has been in development since 2018, and in 2019, it was announced that André Øvredal would direct. However, in 2023, Øvredal was no longer attached to the project and Francis Lawrence was brought in to direct. In June 2024, Cooper Hoffman and David Johnson were cast in undisclosed roles and were later joined by Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, Mark Hamill, and Judy Greer, among others.
The Long Walkentered production in July 2024 and reportedly wrapped filming in September.At the time of writing,The Long Walkdoesn’t have a projected release date, but as it’s done filming, more updates on its release date and more should arrive at some point in 2025, hoping that it won’t come across any more obstacles.
1Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise Will Appear In The It TV Prequel Welcome To Derry
Welcome To Derry Will Include The Book’s Biggest Character
Among the upcoming media from the universe ofStephen Kingis the TV seriesIt: Welcome to Derry. The series isa prequel to Muschietti’sItmovies, and it takes the audience back to the 1960sto explore more about It’s reign of horror in Derry, Maine, as well asthe origin story of Pennywise. However, it was unknown if Pennywise himself would appear, and if so, if Bill Skarsgård would play the scary clown again – and luckily, he has been confirmed to reprise his role.
In May 2024,Skarsgård was confirmed to play Pennywise inWelcome to Derry, and he also served as an executive producer. The most recent version of Pennywise the audience met will now return for more scares and to show his origin story, and it’s going to be interesting to see how else it will connect to the movies.Welcome To Derrywill be released in 2025.
Sources:On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft,EW,Goodreads.
Stephen King
Discover the latest news and filmography for Stephen King, known for The Dark Tower series, The Stand, IT, The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, Misery, the Bill Hodges trilogy, and more.
