Stephen King has officially returned to acting.
While he’s best known for being an iconic writer, Stephen King has had several acting roles over the years, including in some adaptations of his stories and the one feature film he has directed, Maximum Overdrive. Characters he has previously played include Jordy Verrill in Creepshow, Teddy Weizak in the 1994 The Stand miniseries, the “cleaner” Bachman in Sons of Anarchy, the voice of a radio caller named Brian in Frasier, Man at Bank ATM in Maximum Overdrive, the Minister in Pet Sematary, Pizza Delivery Man in Rose Red, and the Shopkeeper in IT Chapter Two.
Draft 1 · Bangor, MaineHow Well Do You Know Stephen King?“They all float down here.”
🎈ITYou’ll float too
🪓ShiningAll work and no play
🔨MiseryI’m your number one fan
🏰Dark TowerThe gunslinger followed
⛓ShawshankGet busy living
OPEN THE BOOK →
01
King was a high school English teacher in Hampden, Maine, living in a trailer with no phone, when Doubleday paid him a $2,500 advance for his first hardcover novel in 1973. He’d thrown the opening pages in the trash; his wife Tabitha fished them out and told him to keep going. What was the book?
AThe Shining
B’Salem’s Lot
CCarrie
DThe Stand
✓ Correct! Carrie. Doubleday paid a $2,500 hardcover advance in 1973, and the paperback rights sold to Signet for $400,000 — King’s half ($200,000) let him quit teaching. He always credits Tabitha with saving the manuscript from the trash. Brian De Palma’s 1976 film adaptation with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie earned two Oscar nominations and cemented King as a screen-adaptation goldmine from day one.
✗ Wrong page. The answer is Carrie, published April 5, 1974. ‘Salem’s Lot came next in 1975, The Shining in 1977, The Stand in 1978. Tabitha King rescued the Carrie opening from the trash, insisted he finish it, and the $400,000 Signet paperback deal that followed — split 50/50 with Doubleday — is what finally let him leave teaching.
02
In the late 1970s, publishers believed no author could release more than one book a year without saturating the market. So King invented a pseudonym and published five novels under it — including The Long Walk, The Running Man, and Thinner — before a Washington bookstore clerk outed him in 1985. What was the pen name?
AJohn Swithen
BRichard Bachman
CGordon Lachance
DPeter Straub
✓ Correct! Richard Bachman. King took the first name from Richard Stark (Donald Westlake’s pseudonym) and the last from Bachman-Turner Overdrive playing on the car stereo. Steve Brown, a Washington D.C. bookstore clerk, cross-checked copyright filings at the Library of Congress and phoned King. Rather than deny it, King wrote a mock obituary declaring Bachman had died of “cancer of the pseudonym.”
✗ Wrong byline. The answer is Richard Bachman — a pseudonym King used for Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man and Thinner between 1977 and 1985. Peter Straub is a real author and King’s co-writer on The Talisman and Black House. John Swithen was a one-off alias for a 1972 short story. Gordon Lachance is the narrator character in The Body (filmed as Stand By Me).
03
King wrote The Shining (1977) after a one-night stay at the then-closing Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, in the fall of 1974. He and Tabitha were the only guests, and a dream about his son being chased down a corridor gave him the entire novel. The fictional haunted hotel is called…
AThe Overlook
BThe Bates
CThe Dolphin
DThe Stanley
✓ Correct! The Overlook Hotel. The Kings checked into room 217 on the last night of the Stanley’s 1974 season; Tabitha fell asleep and Stephen dreamed about his three-year-old son Joe being pursued by a fire hose. He woke up with most of the novel in his head. The Stanley has been milking the connection ever since — and in 1997 King adapted his own novel for a TV miniseries filmed there, as a partial corrective to Kubrick’s film.
✗ Wrong floor. The answer is The Overlook. The real-world Stanley Hotel in Estes Park inspired it — King stayed in room 217 on the last night of the 1974 season and had the fire-hose nightmare that became the book. The Dolphin is a later King hotel (1408). The Bates Motel is Psycho. The Stanley itself is the real place, not the fictional one, though it’s leaned into the association ever since.
04
In IT (1986), the shape-shifting entity the Losers’ Club calls Pennywise the Dancing Clown emerges from the sewers every 27 years to feed on children. The novel — and Andy Muschietti’s 2017/2019 films — are set in a fictional Maine town that also shows up in Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, and 11/22/63. Name it.
ACastle Rock
BJerusalem’s Lot
CDerry
DChester’s Mill
✓ Correct! Derry. Loosely modeled on Bangor, Maine, where King lives. Derry recurs across IT, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, 11/22/63 and parts of the Dark Tower series. Castle Rock is King’s other signature Maine town (The Dead Zone, Cujo, Needful Things). Jerusalem’s Lot is from ‘Salem’s Lot. Chester’s Mill is the setting of Under the Dome.
✗ Wrong sewer. The answer is Derry — King’s Bangor-coded fictional town, the setting of IT (1986), Insomnia (1994), Dreamcatcher (2001) and 11/22/63 (2011). Castle Rock is a different King town (Cujo, The Dead Zone, Needful Things) and Jerusalem’s Lot is where the vampires show up. But Pennywise’s home is always Derry.
05
The 1990 film of Misery, adapted by William Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner, won its lead actress the Best Actress Oscar for playing obsessed “number one fan” Annie Wilkes — still the only acting Oscar ever won for a Stephen King adaptation. Who was it?
AKathy Bates
BSissy Spacek
CJessica Lange
DPiper Laurie
✓ Correct! Kathy Bates — winning Best Actress at the March 1991 Oscars for Misery. Bates later came back for King adaptations Dolores Claiborne (1995) and The Stand (1994 miniseries). It remains the only Academy Award for acting in any screen adaptation of a Stephen King book; Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie both got nominations for Carrie, but neither won.
✗ Wrong fan. The answer is Kathy Bates, who won Best Actress at the 1991 Academy Awards for Misery. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were both nominated for Carrie in 1977 but lost. Jessica Lange has been nominated and won for other films, but not for any King adaptation. Bates’s hobbling scene with the sledgehammer is still routinely voted one of the most terrifying moments in horror cinema.
06
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) — regularly voted the greatest film of all time on IMDb — is adapted from a King novella called “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” The same 1982 collection also contains the novellas that became Stand By Me and Apt Pupil. What is the collection called?
ASkeleton Crew
BDifferent Seasons
CNight Shift
DFour Past Midnight
✓ Correct! Different Seasons (1982) — four novellas, three of them adapted into major films: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption became The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Body became Stand By Me (1986), and Apt Pupil became the 1998 Bryan Singer film. The fourth, The Breathing Method, is the only one never filmed. Different Seasons is the most-adapted single King book in Hollywood history.
✗ Wrong shelf. The answer is Different Seasons (1982). Night Shift (1978) is an earlier horror-story collection. Skeleton Crew (1985) contains The Mist and The Jaunt. Four Past Midnight (1990) has The Langoliers and Secret Window. But three of the four novellas in Different Seasons — Shawshank, Stand By Me, Apt Pupil — all became celebrated films, making it arguably the single most cinematically influential King book.
07
King started writing his sprawling magnum opus in 1970 as a college student and finally published the eighth and final volume in 2012. The first line — “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed” — introduces a hero inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. What’s the gunslinger’s name?
AFlagg
BRoland Deschain
CJake Chambers
DTed Brautigan
✓ Correct! Roland Deschain of Gilead, last of his line. The Dark Tower series — eight novels plus The Wind Through the Keyhole — is King’s spine work, connecting dozens of his other books (The Stand, Salem’s Lot, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, IT) into one multiverse. Randall Flagg is the series’ recurring villain, Jake Chambers is the boy Roland meets, and Ted Brautigan is a Low Men minor character.
✗ Wrong ka-tet. The answer is Roland Deschain. Randall Flagg is the recurring King villain who crosses from The Stand into the Dark Tower (he’s the “man in black” fleeing across the desert in the famous opening). Jake Chambers is the young boy Roland picks up in The Gunslinger. Ted Brautigan is a minor Breaker in Hearts in Atlantis. Roland alone is the king of Gilead’s son.
08
King has three children. His daughter Naomi is a Unitarian minister. His younger son Owen is a novelist. His older son is a bestselling horror writer in his own right — author of Heart-Shaped Box, Horns, NOS4A2, and The Fireman — and spent his early career using a pseudonym to hide the family connection. What name does he publish under?
AJoe Hill
BPaul Tremblay
CJosh Malerman
DGrady Hendrix
✓ Correct! Joe Hill — a shortening of his real name, Joseph Hillström King. He used the pseudonym for a decade so his work would be judged on its own merits and not marketed as “son-of.” His 2004 short-story collection 20th Century Ghosts and 2007 debut novel Heart-Shaped Box made his reputation before the family connection became public. He and his father have also co-written a handful of novellas including In the Tall Grass.
✗ Wrong branch. The answer is Joe Hill — pen name of Joseph Hillström King. Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World) is a separate contemporary horror novelist. Josh Malerman wrote Bird Box. Grady Hendrix wrote Horrorstor and My Best Friend’s Exorcism. Joe Hill hid the King connection for about a decade so his career would stand on its own.
Final Draft · Put Down the PenYour Constant Reader Status
✍/ 8
Constant Reader — or still stuck in Derry?
⤴ START OVER
On Instagram, King has now shared a clip of his role in Disney’s Big City Greens season 5. King voices a fictionalized version of himself in the animated series, with the clip showing him pulled over by a police officer and sharing his name after he is mistakenly identified as “organ donor.” Pet Sematary,Carrie,‘Salem’s Lot, and The Shiningare among his books that can be spotted through the window of the bookstore across the street.
The police officer references Maximum Overdrive
The police officer references Maximum Overdrive and the short story “The Mangler” by talking about a killer truck and a murderous laundry machine. King also mentions Maximum Overdrive and there is a clear allusion to Christine, as the author is driving a red vehicle with the license plate CQB 241, the same as in the novel. Check out the clip below:
Along with joking that “I look very good as a cartoon! I don’t age!” King notes in his post that the episode featuring him comes to Disney+ on October 7. His casting was first announced by Entertainment Weekly in August, which also confirmed that Chad Michael Murray, Luke Combs, Dylan Sprouse, Megan Stalter, and Kevin Smith were joining the new season.
The animated sitcom follows 10-year-old Cricket Green (Chris Houghton) and his family as they move from the country into the “big city.” The cast of Big City Greens also features Marieve Harington as Cricket’s older sister Tilly Green, Bob Joles as Cricket and Tilly’s father Bill Green, Artemis Pebdani as Cricket and Tilly’s grandmother Gramma Alice, Zeno Robinson as Cricket’s best friend Remy Remington, and Wendi McLendon-Covey as Cricket and Tilly’s mother Nancy Green.
Big City Greens originally debuted on Disney Channel
Big City Greens originally debuted on Disney Channel in 2018 and has released more than 100 episodes since then. In 2024, a spinoff film Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation premiered on Disney Channel and became available a day later on Disney+. It has a “Fresh” 68% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, almost exactly the same as the “Fresh” 67% audience score for the television series.
While Big City Greens is not the kind of show that would normally appeal to King fans, the author voicing a fictionalized version of himself along with references to Maximum Overdrive, “The Mangler,” Christine, Pet Sematary, Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, and The Shining in the clip provides plenty of reasons to watch, especially since there will likely be even more references to his stories in the full animated episode.
Stephen King’s Big City Greens episode premieres October 7 on Disney+.
TV-Y7
FamilyAnimationComedyAdventureKids
Release Date
June 19, 2018
Network
Disney Channel
Directors
Monica Ray, Natasha Kline, Tiffany Ford, Matt Braly
Chris Houghton
Cricket Green (voice)- Marieve Herington
Tilly Green (voice) - Bob Joles
Bill Green (voice) 
Artemis Pebdani
Alice ‘Gramma’ Green (voice)
