One of the next Stephen King tales to make the leap to the screen is “The Institute,” a 2019 novel that will arrive in the form of a streaming television series from streamer MGM+.
Variety shares a first look image from the series today, seen up above. The site also reports, “[Stephen] King has come on board the project as an executive producer.”
Creator/producer Benjamin Cavell (Justified, The Stand) previews the storyline, “Kids with ‘The Shine’ [the telekinetic powers from King’s The Shining] are being kidnapped by some shadowy organization that we don’t fully understand. But the kids ultimately are able to find a way to rescue themselves. There isn’t some external force that comes and saves them, the kids have to band together and through their own ingenuity and ability, find their way out.”
Learn more on Variety and read on for everything else we know about “The Institute.”
The cast for the MGM+ series includes Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone), Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), Simone Miller (Run The Burbs) and Jason Diaz (Vampire Academy).
In the eight-episode series, “When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson (Barnes) has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.” The website notes that Parker will play “Ms. Sigsby, the charming but iron-willed director of the Institute and a true believer in its awful mission.”
The Institute comes from director/executive producer Jack Bender (Lost, Mr. Mercedes), writer/executive producer Benjamin Cavell (Justified, The Stand) and MGM+ Studios.
