Skip to main content

Stephen King’s Firestarter unleashes new trailer, release date

Nearly 40 years ago, a post-E.T. Drew Barrymore starred as Charlie McGee in the first adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter. now, newcomer Ryan Kiera Armstrong will take over the role of Charlie in Universal Pictures and Blumhouse’s upcoming Firestarter reboot. And if the first trailer is any indication, the new take on Charlie’s story is going to be even darker than before.

Within the footage, Charlie’s pyrokinetic abilities manifest themselves at school and at home. Consequently, Charlie’s mother, Vicky McGee (Sydney Lemmon), almost gets burned alive. Charlie’s father, Andy McGee (Zac Efron), and his wife are both survivors of The Shop, a black ops group that tried to create people with superhuman abilities. Charlie represents a major step forward in human evolution, and the trailer even suggests that she could be the world’s first superhero. But the evidence of our eyes tells another story. Charlie’s powers are dangerous, and she feels a certain sensation of pleasure when she cuts loose.

Firestarter - Official Trailer

The Shop doesn’t just want Charlie back, they want her under their control. That’s why The Shop operative John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) has made it his mission to not only capture the McGee family, but also to befriend Charlie and bend her to his will. Regardless, Rainbird is literally playing with fire, and that almost always results in burns.

Ryan Kiera Armstrong in Firestarter.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

With the trailer also came the news that Firestarter will not be a theater-exclusive film. Instead, Universal has slated Firestarter for a simultaneous release in theaters and on streaming service Peacock on May 13.

Recommended Videos

Keith Thomas directed the new Firestarter from a script by Scott Teems.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Critics hated this 2017 Stephen King movie. Now on Netflix, is it worth a watch?
A man and a boy aim their guns in The Dark Tower.

For over four decades, adaptations of Stephen King's novels and short stories have made it to the big screen. Some films, like Carrie, Pet Sematary, and Salem's Lot, have even been remade. But there's only been one adaptation to date of King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower. King published the first of eight novels in The Dark Tower series in 1982, and the story of the books grew to encompass or touch upon several other novels and tales King has written. Over a decade ago, there was an ambitious plan to bring The Dark Tower to film and television simultaneously in order to give it the adaptation it deserved.

THE DARK TOWER - Official Trailer (HD)

Read more
One of Stephen King’s most famous novels is getting a streaming remake on Amazon
A girl holds up flowers on the left, and a girl stands covered in blood on the right.

Who better to adapt a Stephen King novel than one of the most prominent horror creators working today?

Per Deadline, Mike Flanagan will develop a television adaptation of King's 1974 novel Carrie. Flanagan will adapt the book into an eight-episode series for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Flanagan and Trevor Macy will executive produce the project through Intrepid Pictures.

Read more
Stephen King’s Fairy Tale will now be a 10-episode A24 TV series, not a movie
A photo of a book cover on the left and Stephen King staring on the right.

The latest update regarding the adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling novel Fairy Tale is bad news for cinephiles and good for TV fans. The Fairy Tale adaptation was originally conceived as a movie, with Paul Greengrass serving as a writer, producer, and director. Those movie plans have now shifted to a TV show.

Per Deadline, Fairy Tale will now become a 10-episode TV series at A24. Greengrass is expected to be involved as he expands the script with J.H. Wyman, who will serve as Fairy Tale's showrunner. Wyman is a TV veteran, with credits on Almost Human and Fringe. Greengrass, Wyman, and King will executive produce along with Peter Rice, the former president of 21st Century Fox. Rice's upcoming producing credits include Saturday Night, 28 Years Later, and Warfare.

Read more