Every George Romero & Stephen King Collaboration That Never Happened

Master of literary horror, Stephen King, and the father of the modern zombie movie, George Romero, had several collaborations in the works that never came to fruition – here’s why. Shortly after the two met, they began creating some of the genre’s most iconic movies and planned to join forces to adapt three of King’s novels. While Creepshow and Knightriders are incredible collaborations between the two, the opportunity to witness a Romero directed Pet Sematary, Salem’s Lot, and The Stand never happened due to several unforeseeable circumstances.

When Romero met King, the author had only published a handful of full-length novels. As of March 2021, he will have published 62 books, but, at the time, Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Rage, and The Stand were some of his titles in circulation. King was only scratching the surface of what would become an approximately 50 year long relationship with the genre. Romero was a seasoned director, having worked in the industry since graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in 1960. He became the father of the modern zombie in 1968 when his movie Night Of The Living Dead premiered. This single feature led to a series of zombie flicks, one of which led Romero to discover King after a colleague had recommended the two meet.

Their collaborations are some of the most iconic in the horror genre, not only for their content, but also for the name recognition as a King-Romero project. These two masters of horror could’ve gone far and wide, especially in terms of adapting the works of King. Sadly, the movies Romero was set to direct – Pet Sematary, Salem’s Lot, IT, and The Stand – never came to fruition due to studio agreements, reshoots, and a few disagreements.

The first project that Romero was drawn to was King’s lengthy apocalyptic novel The Stand. The collaboration seemed to come easy for them, as King wrote the screenplay and Romero was always open to direct the project once production was green lit. At the same time, they were working on several other projects together that led to The Stand getting shelved numerous times. Once Romero left Laurel Entertainment, which he co-founded, a deal was made to adapt it into a miniseries through ABC. While this allowed King to expand his screenplay, Romero was no longer attached to it, likely due to the fact that it wasn’t the feature the two had worked together to create.

Romero was also attached to Salem’s Lot, but once news broke that it would become a miniseries, he bowed out, which allowed for Tobe Hooper to take the reins. While Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary is impressive – to say the least – Romero set out to direct, but also had to leave this project. When King wrote the script, it wasn’t too appealing to production companies in the 1980s. During the writers’ strike of 1988, shelved scripts were revisited, and Pet Sematary was chosen. At the same time, Romero had just finished production on Monkey Shines. King had envisioned that his longtime friend and collaborator would direct, but the studio behind his most recent movie requested that he reshoot the ending. This paved the way for Mary Lambert to step in, with King’s blessing.

Romero was also attached to direct the 1990 IT miniseries before Tobe Hooper took on the role. He intended on making it a 10-hour miniseries that would premiere over the course of five nights, but ABC continuously cut the length. This caused him to exit the project. While audiences may never know what a Stephen King and George Romero adaptation of Pet Sematary, Salem’s Lot, IT, and The Stand would have looked like, the existing finished products are still incredible features from the three directors who were chosen to take his place.

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