Trainspotting star Ewan McGregor is set to play the lead in Doctor Sleep, a sequel to 1980 horror film The Shining.
Adapted from Stephen King’s 2013 novel of the same name, the film will see McGregor play a grown-up Danny Torrance, the psychic son of Jack Nicholson’s character from the first movie.
It looks like things haven’t improved for Danny after sending his father into a murderous rage in The Shining. In the Doctor Sleep novel, Danny is an angry alcoholic, struggling with his supernatural powers while working in a hospice.
It’s here he picks up the nickname “Dr Sleep” and encounters Abra Stone, a little girl with psychic abilities of her own. Not only does Danny discover these abilities, but so does a group of murderous kidnappers that lead Torrance to the Overlook Hotel, the icy setting of The Shining.
The film – scheduled for a January 2020 release – will be directed by Mike Flanagan, who headed upcoming Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House.
When released in 1980, The Shining was initially met with mixed reviews and was even nominated for two Razzie Awards, including Worst Director for Stanley Kubrick. However, the film was reappraised in later years, with many – including director Martin Scorsese – naming the movie as one of the scariest of all time.
Danny Lloyd, who played the child version of Danny Torrance in the film, has retired from acting and now works as a biology professor in a Kentucky community college.
