Stephen King Adaptation 'Chapelwaite' Hits EPIX In August, So It's Time To Learn What EPIX Is
Chapelwaite, the upcoming show based on the Stephen King short story "Jerusalem's Lot," now has a release date – and it's sooner than you might think. The official premiere date is August 22, on EPIX. And now you're probably wondering, "What the hell is EPIX?" It is yet another streaming service is a sea of streaming services, dear reader. And if you already belong to several streaming services, hey, one more can't hurt. The series stars Adrian Brody as a widower who moves to his ancestral home, where spookiness awaits.
Get ready to take a trip to Chapelwaite on August 22. EPIX announced the premiere date for the horror series based on the short Stephen King story "Jerusalem's Lot." If you're only casually familiar with King's work, you might notice that title sounds a lot like his vampire novel Salem's Lot. That's because "Jerusalem's Lot" is a prequel to that book. In the original story, we meet Charles Boone, who moves to Chapelwaite, his neglected ancestral home in 1850. He hears sounds in the walls, and eventually, he and his manservant discover a completely abandoned town that's thought to be cursed. It's a genuinely creepy story.
The TV adaptation is going to change things up, though. In the series, which is also set in the 1850s, we follow Captain Charles Boone (Adrian Brody), "who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher's Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea. However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family's sordid history, and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations."
Once there, they meet Rebeccca Morgan (played by Schitt's Creek's Emily Hampshire), "an ambitious young woman who left Preacher's Corners to attend Mount Holyoke College, and has returned home with an advance to write a story for the new and prestigious Atlantic Magazine. Her writer's block lifts when Boone arrives in town with his children, and despite her mother's protests, Rebecca applies to be governess of the infamous Chapelwaite manor and the Boone family in order to write about them. In doing so, Rebecca will not only craft the next great gothic novel, she'll unravel a mystery that has plagued her own family for years."
A Show That Will Keep You Guessing
If you've read "Jerusalem's Lot," you'll recognize that that synopsis sounds very different than the source material. Charles Boone has no children in the story, and there's no governess character, either. And while I love the story, I understand the changes. The story would probably make a better movie than a TV series. "We play with that intentionally to keep our audience guessing," said Peter Filardi, who co-wrote the show with brother Jason Filardi, with both of them serving as showrunners. "Is it a haunted-house movie? You learn in the pilot that Charles was also suffering from what appears to be some psychological issues, a madness that all of his other relatives suffer from. What is the danger? Well, it keeps sort of evolving."
"My brother and I grew up in Mystic, Connecticut, which is an old whaling town, and we always wanted to do a New England story and a whaling story. So we made Charles Boone a 19th-century whaling captain. As many of those sailors did way back in the day, they often stopped on islands and fell in love and had families," added Jason Filardi. "We wanted to bring children into it, which would give us not only a richer character for Charles, but also more danger to the show. When horror affects the family, it's a little more horrific."
I don't have EPIX (does anyone?), but as a Stephen King fan, I'm curious to check this one out when it arrives in August.