Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot’ Returns to Life With James Wan-Produced Movie Starring Lewis Pullman

We learned a while back that James Wan was producing a new take on Stephen King‘s vampire story Salem’s Lot for New Line, with Gary Dauberman (It, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Home) attached to write the script and also direct the film. Today brings the first casting news.

THR reports that Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: Prey at Night) has signed on to star!

Via The Hollywood Reporter this afternoon, “Pullman will star as author Ben Mears, a man who returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a vampire, leading him to band together a ragtag group that will fight the evil presence.”

Speaking with Slash Film in 2019, Dauberman teased a scary new take on the material.

“I did have a unique way into it but again, I think the book in itself is unique,” Dauberman told the site. “I haven’t seen a scary vampire movie in a long, long time and I’d really love to tackle that. It’s one of my favorite books. It’s one of my favorite Stephen King books. We felt it should have the cinematic treatment that we gave IT; IT was a miniseries as well.”

He added, “The experience of bringing that to the big screen was such a joy that I was so happy we will have the opportunity to do that for Salem’s Lot.”

Fresh off Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper directed the very first adaptation of Salem’s Lot back in 1979, and a new mini-series followed in its wake more recently, in 2004.

Roy Lee and Mark Wolper will also produce the new movie, with Dauberman exec producing.