Stephen King's son Joe Hill is adapting one of his own unpublished stories for the big screen, and it's for the most heartwarming reason

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in The Black Phone — (Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Aside from being a successful author and Stephen King's son, Joe Hill has made a name for himself in the world of film and TV, and continues to write one screenplay a year, both based on his own and other writers' works.

His next project is based on one of his unpublished stories. "Right now I'm revising a screenplay that I was paid for for 2025," said Hill in an interview with Mashable. "The script I'm working on now is an adaptation of an unpublished novella that I'd written that will be published eventually."

Although we don't know what the upcoming project will follow, we are sure it will be great and ghostly, just like Hill's past adapted works. Scott Derrickson's 2022 horror movie The Black Phone is based on one of Hill's short stories, as is Netflix's spooky 2019 film In the Tall Grass. Hill has had luck with television, too, as the beloved Locke and Key series is adapted from Hill's comic series of the same name.

Hill went on to explain that a lapse in his healthcare coverage led him to adapt his unpublished story. In fact, The Black Phone's Derrickson helped him out with the process. "I sent him this novella I had written that hadn't been published, and a pitch for how I'd adapt it, and he got psyched. And he's like, 'We gotta do this.' And so he got me the gig to write the script. Now I'm revising it for Sony Screen Gems," said Hill.

I'm the Junior Social Media Editor here at GamesRadar+, handling all of Total Film's social platforms. However, I also write, covering all things film and TV for the site's entertainment section. I joined GamesRadar+ in 2023 and have been here ever since. I previously worked in communications after graduating with an MA in journalism. In my spare time, you can find me binging horror movies or getting lost in a cosy little game on my Switch.

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