Stephen Kinghas announced he’s returning to the Territories, and it’s making me really hopeful that he might finally be working on the third book inThe Talismanseries that he’s teased for a few years. The originalThe Talisman, published in 1984,was co-written by the late horror great Peter Straub, as was the 2001 sequel,Black House. While the epic has been beloved by his faithful Constant Readers, it’s never gotten the proper attention of otherStephen King books, perhaps because it’s not yet been adapted for a feature film or TV series (thoughthe Duffer Brothers are trying to get aTalismanTV adaptation off the ground).
The Talismanfollows 12-year-old Jack Sawyer, who embarks on a trip across America and a parallel world known as the Territories to procure a magical artifact known as the Talisman to cure his mother, who is dying from cancer. Along the way, he learns that their worlds are connected, and he can save the queen of the Territories, who is also dying.Black Housefollows an adult Jack, now a former LAPD homicide detective, who must solve a string of murders that bring him back to the Territories. While Black House tied up Jack’s story nicely,readers like me have wondered if King would ever return for a thirdTalismanbook.
Stephen King’s Territories Tease Could Mean He’s Working On The Talisman 3
It Wouldn’t Be The First Time He Wrote A Sequel After Decades
A few days ago,King put an exciting tease out on social media, announcing his return to both Mid-world and the Territories: “I’m back in Mid-World…and the Territories. Don’t know if it will develop into anything–I never know–but it’s good to be back,” he said. While those familiar withThe Dark Towermost certainly perked up at the mention of Mid-world (I know I did), the bit I focused on was his mention of the Territories.
With him specifically mentioning the Territories,it makes me wonder if he’s finally working on that thirdTalismanbook that he’s teased for the past year. Of course, with Stephen King’s history, there’s always a chance he’ll return to an old story with a new sequel or connection. He just did it withthe short story “Rattlesnakes” inYou Like It Darker, which served as a surpriseCujosequel, after all, and that was a sequel almost 43 years in the making. Any story could be next.
But with this tweet, it would appear that even if what he eventually ends up writing doesn’t directly followThe TalismanandBlack House, it will at least return to that world, which is really exciting. Even though Jack Sawyer’s story was wrapped up in a satisfactory way inBlack House,the Territories is a fascinating world that has more stories to tell.
Stephen King Has Talked About Writing Another Talisman Sequel Before
He’s Gone So Far As To Start Taking Notes & Rereading The First Two Books
Another reason I’m hopeful that it could beThe Talisman 3that he’s working on is thatStephen King has talked before about potentially writing another sequel. He directly addressed the possibility of a thirdTalismanbook in 2023 on theTalking Scaredpodcast, revealing that Straub had had some ideas before he died. “Before he died, Peter sent me this long letter and said we oughta do the third one,” he said, “and he gave me a really cool idea and I had some ideas of my own.”
Black House
June 19, 2025
In another episode of that sameTalking Scaredpodcast earlier this year, the subject ofThe Talisman 3came up again, andKing mentioned he’d gone back and rereadThe Talismanand taken notes,and he planned to rereadBlack Houseand see if he could make it work. He also revealed that Straub’s idea had been to do something with the real-life serial killer Charles Starkweather for the third book, and that he had Straub’s notes and his own in a box. Like most of his best books, it’s an idea that has clearly been percolating in his brain for a while. As he said in the tweet, it may come to nothing, but he’s at least working on something and seeing if he can make the pieces fit.
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But it’s another bit from the podcast that makes me think it’s nota newDark Towerbook that Stephen King is working on, but a new sequel toThe Talisman. In that same interview, he was also asked about a tweet he made earlier in the year about Ka being a wheel, and if that meant he was returning for anotherDark Towerstory in Roland’s series. King shot that down pretty emphatically, though, saying that Roland’s story is finished and that he feels he’s done withtheDark Toweruniverseportion of Mid-world, proud of what he’s accomplished. So if he’s returning to Mid-world and the Territories,that makes me think it will be fromThe Talismanside of things, notThe Dark Tower.
Why The Talisman 3 Would Be The Most Exciting Addition To The Author’s Lineup
It Can Finally Clear Up Some Canon Issues
Honestly, while I look forward to any newStephen King book, whether it’s a novel or a short story collection,I would be thrilled if he were working onThe Talisman 3.For starters, it’s just a really cool world, and the Territories have a lot of fertile storytelling ground. WhileThe Dark Toweris his magnum opus, King has never spent much time simply exploring Mid-world and all it has to offer in stories that didn’t center Roland Deschain. It would be a nice change of pace to have a story that partly takes place in Mid-world that has nothing to do with the Dark Tower or Roland’s quest. All things may serve the Beam, but that doesn’t mean every story has to.
ATalismansequel that still incorporates Mid-world could finally clear up some of the messier multiverse canon issues introduced inBlack House.
I’m also excited because aTalismansequel that still incorporates Mid-world could finally clear up some of the messier multiverse canon issues introduced inBlack House. While the originalTalismanwas completely separate fromThe Dark Tower,Black Houseblurred the linesthere when Jack was sucked into a world that ostensibly wasThe Talisman’s Territories, but included several things that, to that point, had been specific to Mid-world, like the Little Sisters of Eluria, speaking stones, mentions of Roland and the gunslingers, and even the Dark Tower and the Beams.
In 2003, King released a revised and expanded edition of his 1982 novelThe Gunslinger, adding to the story and retroactively fixing certain plot holes and canon issues that had been created in later books as the lore got more complicated.
It wouldn’t be the first time one of King’s long-running epic series created earlier canon problems that he then went back and fixed: see, of course,the revised and expanded edition ofThe Gunslinger. So Constant Readers have more or less shrugged and accepted the muddiness of theDark Tower/Talismanconnection, simply choosing to roll with it and enjoying the stories for what they are. Still, ifStephen Kingreleases a newTalismanepic that properly clears it up and ties all the pieces together, that would be, well, epic.
Sources:Talking Scared,Talking Scared
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.
