Ranking Every Stephen King 2025 Adaptation By Faithfulness To The Source Material

2025 was a fantastic year for Stephen King. He released a new novel, and saw four of his stories adapted for the big screen and two become television series. The movie adaptations were particularly well-received, earning mostly positive reviews, with three being designated ‘Fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes and the fourth scoring a solid 63%.

As a longtime Stephen King fan, I have to say I was really impressed with the recent adaptations. Out of the six projects – both films and TV series – a remarkable five stayed incredibly faithful to the original stories. The two that took some liberties were interesting cases: The Running Man altered the ending, and The Monkey deliberately went for a lighter, more fun horror vibe, which, honestly, it pulled off. Overall, a strong showing for King on screen!

The Monkey

The first Stephen King story to be adapted into a movie in 2025 is titled The Monkey. It’s based on a short story from his Skeleton Crew collection and centers around twin brothers, Hal and Bill. They possess a vintage wind-up monkey toy inherited from their father, which has a dark past and is linked to a series of violent deaths, including their mother’s when they were children.

The biggest difference in the film adaptation of The Monkey is the addition of twins, both played by Theo James, who weren’t in the original short story. Director Osgood Perkins also shifted the focus away from the horror elements in Stephen King’s tale, opting for a more outlandish and absurd story centered around a murderous monkey toy.

Of the four Stephen King films coming out in 2025, The Monkey stands out as the only one that’s a true horror comedy. Despite the humorous tone, the deaths are always treated seriously and presented as believable accidents, which creates uncertainty about whether the monkey’s actions are truly supernatural.

The film and King’s original story differ in a few key ways. In the story, the toy activates on its own when it’s needed, but in the movie, someone else has to make it work. The endings are also different: the film hints at a violent conflict between the twins, while the story focuses solely on completely destroying the toy, something that doesn’t happen in the movie.

However, like the Final Destination films, The Monkey consistently emphasizes the unavoidable reality of death for everyone.

Welcome to Derry

The HBO Max series, Welcome to Derry, is unique because it isn’t a direct adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Instead, it’s inspired by his book IT and tells the story leading up to the events of that novel and the films based on it. Notably, Bill Skarsgård reprises his role as Pennywise, having previously played the character in the 2017 and 2019 movies.

Even though ‘Welcome to Derry’ isn’t directly based on a specific Stephen King story, it still feels true to the spirit of his work. It builds upon the events of the two ‘It’ movies – which were very faithful adaptations of the books – and continues that established storyline. While not part of the original books themselves, the series remains consistent with the movie canon.

Perhaps even more crucially, Welcome to Derry successfully captures the atmosphere and themes of Stephen King’s original novel, particularly Derry’s disturbing past. It cleverly links to other King works—even featuring characters from The Shining—and expands upon the established mythology without creating any major inconsistencies.

The Running Man

This is the second attempt by Hollywood to turn Stephen King’s novel, originally published under the name Richard Bachman, into a movie. The first film, released in 1987 and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, only shared the title and the basic concept of a deadly game show with the book.

What’s most remarkable about King’s story is that he wrote it way back in 1973, before it was published under the name Bachman in 1982. He essentially foresaw the rise of reality TV and the popularity of life-or-death storylines decades before they actually became trends.

The 2025 film adaptation of The Running Man stays much closer to the original story than the 1987 movie. However, director Edgar Wright made some significant changes to update it for a modern audience. Both versions share the same basic premise: Ben participates in a dangerous reality TV show to afford medical care for his daughter.

Wright significantly altered the ending of The Running Man. In King’s original novel, Ben Richards’s family dies, and he crashes a plane into the TV studio, sacrificing himself and everyone inside. The film, however, gave Ben a much more hopeful conclusion – his family survives, and he sparks a rebellion, completely changing the story’s final moments and removing the self-sacrifice.

The Institute

The Institute, a TV series based on a Stephen King novel, didn’t get much attention because it was exclusive to the MGM+ streaming service. The first season had eight episodes and was popular enough to earn a renewal for a second season. It was adapted from King’s 2019 novel of the same name, making it one of his more recent stories brought to the screen.

I was immediately reminded of stories like Firestarter and Stranger Things while reading this – it centers around a really creepy institute that abducts children who have special abilities. They’re held there and used as test subjects, which is just awful. The main character’s story is heartbreaking; his parents were killed, and he was taken from his bed in the middle of the night, and it sounds like that’s how they get most of the kids.

The series stays pretty close to the original story, focusing on children with special abilities who team up to fight villains in a dangerous setting. A few small changes were made to enhance the plot, including aging the main character, Joe, to make some of the more intense scenes suitable for a streaming audience.

Stephen King has stated that the series closely followed his novel, and he believes any adjustments made were improvements necessary for adapting the story from a book to a television show.

The Life of Chuck

Like films such as Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile, The Life of Chuck is a movie that might surprise those unfamiliar with Stephen King’s work. While written by the master of horror, this film is more of a sad, but ultimately hopeful, drama with a touch of science fiction than a scary story.

What makes Mike Flanagan’s version so good is how closely it sticks to Stephen King’s original story – it’s one of the most accurate adaptations of his work ever made. While the movie is longer than the short story it’s based on, and some things were added to fill out the runtime, very little of the original story was altered.

Similar to the original story, the movie The Life of Chuck unfolds backwards, starting with the third act, then the second, and ending with the first. Both the story and the film feature the universe’s destruction and Chuck’s significant dance. Many conversations are almost exactly the same in both versions, making the movie feel very familiar to those who have read the book.

One major difference, however, wasn’t a change to the story itself. Instead, Mike Flanagan’s film greatly emphasized the hospital where Felicia works, making it central to Chuck’s connection to the fate of everything. This also gives Felicia a more prominent role in the third act compared to the original story.

The Long Walk

In 2025, the most acclaimed film adaptation of a Stephen King story (originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) was The Long Walk. Many filmmakers had previously tried and failed to bring this story to the screen, but director Francis Lawrence (known for The Hunger Games) and writer JT Mollner (Strange Darling) successfully made it happen.

Both the film and the book depict a similar story: following a devastating civil war, a controlling government creates a brutal competition. One teenage boy is randomly selected from each state and compelled to participate in a cross-country walk. If a boy’s pace drops below 3 miles per hour, he receives a warning, and after three warnings, he is executed by the military.

I was really struck by the ending – it’s just whoever manages to keep going the longest. What’s amazing is that Stephen King actually wrote this book when he was only 19! He didn’t publish it right away, though; it came out much later under the name Richard Bachman. You can definitely tell he was a frustrated, passionate young writer when he penned it, and honestly, a lot of what he explores still feels incredibly relevant even now.

What makes The Long Walk so good is how closely it follows Stephen King’s original story, and the few changes it does make actually enhance it. The movie’s script stays very true to the characters King created. For example, Roy Garraty, the main character in both the book and film, is portrayed consistently throughout.

The film version of The Long Walk emphasizes the connections Roy forms with the other walkers, making their deaths more impactful. Pete, played by David Jonsson, also has a larger role, strengthening his bond with Roy. But the biggest difference is the way the story concludes.

The film adaptation of The Long Walk has a significantly improved ending compared to the novel. Instead of a bleak conclusion, the movie offers a satisfying sense of justice, with a different character winning the competition. This change makes it not only the best Stephen King movie of 2025, but also the most accurate adaptation of the source material.

2025-12-23 18:42