The Duffer Brothers’ Adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Talisman’ Scrapped at Netflix

The highly anticipated collaboration between the Stranger Things creators and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners is no longer moving forward at the streamer.

It’s now been four, going on five years, since news broke that Matt and Ross Duffer (The Duffer Brothers) were teaming up with Steven Spielberg to adapt Stephen King and Peter Straub’s iconic fantasy novel, The Talisman, for Netflix, with very few updates since its first announcement in the trades. 

In a recent interview with CBR’s Grae Drake during the Stranger Things season 5 press tour, the creators confirmed that the project has been shelved as they transition away from their exclusive partnership with Netflix.

The adaptation has famously been stuck in “development hell” for decades, with Steven Spielberg holding the rights for an extended period, hoping to find the right way to crack the story. It appears the Duffers have joined the list of creators who couldn’t quite make it happen.

“Sadly, Talisman is no longer at Netflix, so we’re not involved,” Ross Duffer told the outlet. Matt Duffer added a candid reflection on the ambitious undertaking: “I remember I was, I think it was probably naive of us to think we could break The Talisman.”

Ross further elaborated on the project’s long history of stalled attempts, noting that he read scripts for the project back when he was in college: “When I interned… at Kennedy Marshall, I remember reading, I think it was a movie script for Talisman. So it’s been in development forever, so I’m sorry that we were not the ones to break the curse.”

Given the lack of updates over the years, it shouldn’t be surprising the project ultimately got shelved. As a general rule of thumb, if you don’t hear about a project 3-5 years after that initial announcement, you can probably safely assume it’s not moving forward. There’s exceptions, but it’s more often the case than not. 

Published in 1984, The Talisman is a collaboration between horror giants Stephen King and Peter Straub. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Jack Sawyer who sets off on a quest to save his dying mother. 

As we’ve covered elsewhere, the Duffers have a few more projects set up at Netflix in addition to what they’ll be working on for Paramount (under a new overall deal) in the future. Death Note is still believed to be in the works with writer and executive producer Abdel-Meguid’s website. The Boroughs and Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, both in post-production, are confirmed for 2026, and the duo were also confirmed to be working on adapting The Savage, Noble Death Of Babs Dionne in the Summer of 2025.

That’s all in addition to at least three upcoming Stranger Things spin-offs with Tales from ’85 due out in the Spring of 2026.

Picture Credits: Netflix

Are you disappointed that The Talisman won’t be moving forward at Netflix? Let us know in the comments.