An eight-episode series based on the 2019 Stephen King novel The Institute has been commissioned by MGM, according to Deadline.
The Institute follows gifted young Luke, who, along with other gifted children from across the United States, have been taken against their will and incarcerated in a dark state facility, and forced to participate in experiments. Sometimes, it gets quite grim.
Apart from that, we know that Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone) has signed onto the role of Jamieson, and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) as the villainous Mrs. Sigsby. Writer and exec producer Benjamin Cavell is also onboard for this project. on board as writer and executive producer.
Cavell was also responsible for 2020’s The Stand miniseries, which I have on good authority was ummm… not great. That doesn’t mean this one’s going to follow suit, though.
I do find King’s work rarely translates great onto screen, but there have been some successes over the years; namely The Green Mile, Castle Rock (both of those had me in tears) and IT. Others have been frankly terrible (don’t even get me started on The Dark Tower – but you can read my rant here).
I’m also in two minds about this one. King is my favourite author – in fact, he’s the author I grew up with, and I devoured his books from such a young age I didn’t always fully understand what I was reading – and The Institute is mostly a good read. However, it took me a long time to will myself to finish it, and I have no idea why it took that turn with me. Maybe it’s a me thing.
It does follow a very familiar theme in his work of gifted children being hard done by, so maybe that was part of it.
Anyway, to give you a better idea of the plot, here’s the synopsis for the book:
Deep in the woods of Maine, there is a dark state facility where kids, abducted from across the United States, are incarcerated. In the Institute they are subjected to a series of tests and procedures meant to combine their exceptional gifts – telepathy, telekinesis – for concentrated effect. Luke Ellis is the latest recruit. He’s just a regular 12-year-old, except he’s not just smart, he’s super-smart. And he has another gift which the Institute wants to use…
Far away in a small town in South Carolina, former cop Tim Jamieson has taken a job working for the local sheriff. He’s basically just walking the beat. But he’s about to take on the biggest case of his career. Back in the Institute’s downtrodden playground and corridors where posters advertise ‘just another day in paradise’, Luke, his friend Kalisha and the other kids are in no doubt that they are prisoners, not guests. And there is no hope of escape.
But great events can turn on small hinges and Luke is about to team up with a new, even younger recruit, Avery Dixon, whose ability to read minds is off the scale. While the Institute may want to harness their powers for covert ends, the combined intelligence of Luke and Avery is beyond anything that even those who run the experiments – even the infamous Mrs Sigsby – suspect.
Production of The Institute is set to commence later this year in Nova Scotia.
What do you think of the latest news about Stephen King‘s The Institute? Are you excited for it – or are you a bit like me and baiting your breath? Join the conversation below.
