Pet Sematary prequel cast adds Samantha Mathis and Henry Thomas

The Haunting of Hill House — (Image credit: Netflix)

Sometimes dead is better, at least, that's how the saying in Stephen King's Pet Sematary goes – a novel in which a grieving father chooses to revive his dead son, turning him into a pint-sized murderous simulacra with a penchant for slicing and dicing.

Pet Sematary refuses to stay buried, however, with Deadline reporting on the addition of two newcomers to the upcoming movie; Samantha Mathis and Henry Thomas. Nothing's been announced in terms of who either star might be playing but both have horror cred baked into their filmographies.

Mathis has stacked up genre credits in the likes of Hulu's Into the Dark anthology and The Strain, as has Thomas with his Mike Flanagan collaborations The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and the upcoming Midnight Mass.

It's safe to say the Pet Sematary franchise is... alive and kicking over at Paramount where the upcoming prequel is stacking up cast members left and right. Most recently, Pam Grier boarded the movie in an unknown role, alongside Jackson White, who's tasked with the role of a young Jud Crandall, the neighbour from the original cinematic continuity, played by both John Lithgow and Fred Gwynne.

The rest of the supporting cast includes Mare of Easttown's Jack Mulhern, The Revenant's Forrest Goodluck, The Goldbergs' Natalie Alyn Lind and Isabella Star LaBlanc. Nothing's known on their roles either, which seems to be part of the studio's plan.

How so? Early reports suggest Paramount is choosing to keep major story beats under wraps too. But we do know it's set to take place before the events of the 1989 Mary Lambert-directed movie, which adapted King's book and will "serve as an origin story to the Stephen King novel about a family that discovers a rather disturbing graveyard in the woods behind their home."

In King's novel, the Micmac burial ground which exists past the incredibly-creepy pet sematary has lain beyond the woods for some time, as we learn through Jud Crandall's long chats with Louis Creed. In both the 1989 and 2019 film, he recants his younger neighbour with tales of his own from the stonier ground, where dead bodies are wont to walk again.

The Pet Sematary prequel film is directed by Lindsay Beers, who wrote the script based on an earlier draft penned by Jeff Buhler. Buhler is somewhat of a Ludlow, Maine expert having also penned the 2019 Pet Sematary directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer and starring Amy Seimetz and Jason Clarke.

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.