With the coming Alan Wake 2creative director and writer Sam Lake expands the Remedy Entertainment’s shared universe Computer Games. As it turns out, horror movie director Mike Flanagan wouldn’t mind helping out.
The two hosted a panel at Tribeca Festival 2023 this week, talking about Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment’s body of work and the influences that have shaped both of their projects over the years. They also spent a lot of time gushing over each other’s work. (Flanagan is a self-proclaimed “massive fan” of Alan Wake And Check.) During a question-and-answer portion at the end of the panel, an audience member asked Flanagan if, given Lake’s habit of writing stories that intersect, the two creators might want to collaborate at some point.
“Given the writers’ strike, there’s not much going on right now,” Flanagan said, referring to the Writer’s Guild of America’s ongoing strike that began May 2. “But nothing would make me happier in the future.”
In addition to original works such as Midnight Mass, oculus, And QuietFlanagan has spent much of his career adapting horror stories into Netflix miniseries: The Ghost of Hill House previously made the work of Shirley Jackson The Ghost of Bly Manor rethought The turn of the screw by Henry James. He is also working on an eight-episode miniseries based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe The Fall of the House of Usher. Notably, Flanagan has also adapted the work of horror novelist Stephen King; the cinema Gerald’s game And Doctor Sleep both taken directly from King’s work, and Flanagan owns the rights to The Dark Tower series.
Lake is no stranger to Stephen King writing. The original Alan Wake begins with a direct quote from the author, and the rest of the game is a powerful homage to the horror master’s dizzying portfolio. 2019 Checkwhich was largely inspired by SCP Foundationthe joint fiction project in honor of the New weird genre, also leans hard towards King-like horror.
“I admire your work,” Lake told Flanagan near the end of the panel. “Your characters confront their flaws in terrifying and supernatural circumstances, but through all your work there is always hope.”