Stephen King's endless grip on the world of horror shows no sign of letting go. Now, as announced by The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has officially greenlit a new adaptation of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
The project will be directed by JT Mollner, already involved in another King adaptation (The Long Walk, hitting United States theaters this September). Now, Mollner steps behind the camera again, this time to tell the tale of Trisha McFarland, a nine-year-old girl who gets lost in the deep woods of the Appalachian Trail. With nothing but a Walkman and her imagination, Trisha clings to her love of baseball and her idol Tom Gordon, a real-life Red Sox pitcher who becomes a sort of guardian angel in her hallucinatory fight for survival.
More psychological than supernatural, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a chilling descent into isolation and fear, dressed as a dark fairytale. It's a far cry from King's bloodier outings, but no less terrifying in its quiet unraveling of the human psyche.
Mollner seems like a fitting match. His 2023 film Strange Darling was a feral, inventive slasher that bent narrative structure until it screamed. While it went largely unnoticed in theaters, earning less than $5 million globally, it earned fans in high places, including King himself. Critics praised the film's bold editing, shifting perspectives, and Willa Fitzgerald's standout performance, calling it a rare example of the genre being turned inside out. Now, with Tom Gordon, Mollner has the chance to bring that same inventiveness to a story that demands sensitivity, tension, and a surreal touch.
Backing the project is a strong production team, including Roy Lee (It, Doctor Sleep), Christine Romero, Ryan Silbert, and Andrew Childs. Lionsgate's Nathan Kahane will also be involved in a producing capacity, after stepping down as head of the studio's motion picture group. The studio has long been circling this project, and in a year already packed with King adaptations (The Monkey, The Life of Chuck, The Running Man, The Long Walk, The Institute, IT: Welcome to Derry), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon promises to stand apart, not with gore, but with dread that seeps in slowly, like darkness through the trees.
In the meantime, while you wait for this one to hit the screen, you can revisit some of the other upcoming projects from the Master of Horror in The best of Stephen King: Six adaptations set for 2025 release every King of Horror fan should watch.
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