The most recent trailer for Doctor Sleep (directed by Mile Flanagan), a sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining, reveals that a grown-up Danny Torrance will return to The Overlook Hotel to face his demons. Two of them are the Grady Twins who made an iconic appearance in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining in 1980. If you missed the trailer for Doctor Sleep when it hit the internet yesterday, give it a spin below.
Synopsis:
Struggling with alcoholism, Dan Torrance remains traumatized by the sinister events that occurred at the Overlook Hotel when he was a child. His hope for a peaceful existence soon becomes shattered when he meets Abra, a teen who shares his extrasensory gift of the “shine.” Together, they form an unlikely alliance to battle the True Knot, a cult whose members try to feed off the shine of innocents to become immortal.
Related Article: Return to The Overlook Hotel [Part 1]: Talking to Mike Flanagan About DOCTOR SLEEP
The trailer poses an interesting question: If adult Danny Torrance (played by Ewan McGregor) crosses paths with the Grady Twins when he returns to The Overlook, will he (and we) be seeing other familiar spectral faces when Doctor Sleep arrives in theaters on November 8th? As someone who was lucky enough to visit the set last November, I have both specific answers and conjecture.
There’s a moment in the latest trailer for Doctor Sleep where we see someone sitting in a bathtub, pulling back the shower curtain. It’s a recreation of the scene where Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) encounters the ghost of a decaying woman in Room 237. We imagine that, if she returns, she’ll look even more hideous than she did back in 1980!
Before Jack Torrance became the caretaker of The Overlook Hotel, the position was held by Dilbert Grady (father of the Grady Twins); the character (played by Philip Stone) appears to Jack in phantom form. Will we be seeing him in Doctor Sleep? While being walked from one section of the set to another, I spied a Delbert Grady look-alike having a smoke break by a trailer. Whether or not the character appears in the final cut of Doctor Sleep remains to be seen.
Though he only appears briefly, the tuxedoed Overlook guest with a giant gash in his head made quite an impression when he tipped his drink to Jack Torrance in The Shining. At the same time I spotted the Delbert Grady look-alike on the set of Doctor Sleep, I saw another actor dressed as the injured guest (complete with an opened head wound). No guarantee will see him in the final cut, but I’d say the chances are likely.
Since we know that adult Danny Torrance is dealing with the same alcohol dependency that plagued his father, it seems likely that he’ll face off against Lloyd the Bartender when he returns to The Overlook Hotel. The character seems to represent temptation and/or giving over to the darker forces lurking the hotel’s corridors.
One of the most WTF moments from The Shining is when Wendy Torrance (played by Shelley Duvall) sees the ghost of an Overlook guest in a compromising sexual position with a man dressed in a bear costume. While the situation is never explained, it’s a scene that’s become iconic over the decades. Even though Danny never saw this Overlook ghost as a child, we can hope they’ll cross paths in Doctor Sleep.
Though he was quite alive when he arrived at The Overlook in 1980, Jack Torrance learns that he’s “always” been the caretaker. The film’s final shot is of a photo taken back in 1921–with Jack standing dead center. And since past guests and residents who died at The Overlook seem to remain trapped wandering the immense hotel’s corridors, it stands to reason that Jack’s been pacing the hallways himself for the past four decades. Whether Jack will return in CGI form or played by a look-alike remains to be seen, but I’d be surprised if he fails to materialize.
Are you excited to check out Doctor Sleep when it hits theaters in November? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.