Among Stephen King’s works is a fantasy novel that, if properly adapted into a TV series, could be the perfect replacement for Game of Thrones. Despite being known as the “King of Horror”, and with good reason, Stephen King’s novels and short stories haven’t been limited to the horror genre. While it’s true that King’s stories have allowed readers to explore different types of fears and have introduced them to a variety of monsters, either human or supernatural, King has also branched out to other genres, either mixing them with horror or leaving scares aside.
The popularity and quality of King’s works have led to many of them being adapted to other media, some even more than once (as is the case for Carrie). Unfortunately, many of these failed to bring the quality and spark of the source material to either film or TV, leading to a lot of disappointing adaptations. However, there’s one Stephen King novel that hasn’t been adapted to any other media and which has a lot of potential, and it’s also one that left the horror genre aside and is, instead, a full-on fantasy adventure.
One Stephen King Non-Horror Book Would Be Cheap To Adapt (Despite Fantasy Being So Expensive)
One of Stephen King’s most ambitious novels could be easily adapted to the big screen thanks to what should be a relatively small budget.
The Eyes Of The Dragon Is Stephen King’s Only Pure Fantasy Novel
The Eyes of the Dragon was published in 1984, and it’s an epic fantasy novel with a battle between good and evil in a quasi-medieval setting. The Eyes Of The Dragon takes place in the realm of Delain, and an unnamed narrator tells the story of Peter, the son of King Roland and Queen Sasha. Peter’s birth poses a threat to King Roland’s magician, Randall Flagg, who plans to destroy the kingdom. When Queen Sasha is pregnant with her second son, Flagg forces her midwife to wound the Queen, killing her but saving the baby, Thomas.
Flagg’s next plan is to get rid of Peter, who years later, now a teenager, starts to bring a glass of wine to his father every night before bed. Flagg seizes this and poisons the King but frames Peter, though Thomas witnesses Flagg poisoning the wine through the glass eyes of the mounted head of Niner the dragon. Peter is locked up in a huge tower called the Needle, and Thomas is crowned King, but as he’s too young and inexperienced, he allows Flagg too much power.
The Eyes of the Dragon has elements of magic thanks to Randall Flagg, who can also be seen as the one horror element in the novel, but still, it’s the one book in Stephen King’s works that is a full-on epic fantasy tale. Despite being praised by critics, The Eyes Of The Dragon was rejected by many King fans, which prompted the King of Horror to write Misery as a metaphor for his feelings of being chained to the horror genre.
Its Court Politics Would Make It A Worthy Replacement For Game Of Thrones
Thanks to its tone, setting, story, and themes, The Eyes Of The Dragon could be the Game of Thrones replacement that fans have been waiting for. Just like Game of Thrones, The Eyes Of The Dragon deals with politics in a fantasy, medieval-like setting, and the machinations of an evil wizard and court advisor are at the core of the conflict. The Eyes Of The Dragon has the necessary elements and story for a movie or TV adaptation, filling the void left by Game of Thrones – that, of course, if it’s handled correctly.
The Eyes Of The Dragon has been close to being adapted to TV and the big screen before, but the film adaptation was canceled in 2000 and the TV adaptation was canceled by Hulu in 2020 due to budget concerns and changes to Hulu’s executive team. Despite these obstacles, an adaptation of The Eyes Of The Dragon could still happen someday, and hopefully, it will be made the right way.
