Stephen King’s Haunted Room Thriller Is Reportedly Getting a Follow-Up With John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson and Its Original Director

Some horror movies refuse to stay buried. They arrive quietly, earn a loyal following over the years and then, long after their release, start inspiring calls for a sequel. Stephen King’s hotel-room chiller from 2007 has been one of those films for a long time.

Fans have debated for years whether the story could continue. The original film left multiple versions of its ending in circulation, which gave viewers plenty to argue about. Cusack himself has said more than once that he’d be open to going back.

Now a report says a ‘1408’ follow-up is on the way. According to scooper Daniel Richtman, John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson are returning for a follow-up to the 2007 adaptation, with original director Mikael Håfström also coming back. There’s no plot, release date or confirmation from the studio yet, so the news should be treated as a rumor.

‘1408’ was released under the Dimension Films banner and adapted King’s short story about Mike Enslin, a skeptical author who makes a living investigating supposedly haunted locations. Against the increasingly desperate warnings of hotel manager Gerald Olin, played by Jackson, Enslin checks into room 1408 at New York’s Dolphin Hotel. The manager warns him that no one has lasted an hour inside, with 56 deaths on the room’s ledger.

The film was written by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and it co-starred Mary McCormack and Tony Shalhoub. It leaned on psychological tension rather than gore, and critics praised Cusack’s lead performance. It remains one of the more overlooked King adaptations.

The movie was a commercial success. It earned more than $131 million worldwide against a reported budget of $22.5 million to $25 million, depending on the source. That makes it one of the stronger returns among King adaptations of its era.

The strong box office performance is part of why interest in a sequel never faded. It also helps explain why the idea feels plausible after almost 2 decades.

Any follow-up faces an obvious question: where would it begin? The film has several endings across its different versions. In the theatrical cut, Mike survives and his account of the events is confirmed by a tape recording.

The director’s cut ending has Mike die in the fire, though he is happy to see the room destroyed, and Olin later sees apparitions at the funeral. The ending was reshot because test audiences felt the original was a downer. None of the alternate endings match King’s short story, which leaves a sequel plenty of room to choose a starting point.

Cusack has talked about a return for years. In a 2020 interview, he said he always thought there was another version of ‘1408’ in which his character could wake up back in the room and continue on. More recently, he told People at a screening of ‘Say Anything’ that ‘1408’ was the one film he’d be interested in revisiting for a sequel.

Jackson’s involvement would also be a major draw. The pairing of Cusack and Jackson was one of the film’s selling points, and the best scenes pit the 2 against each other in a tense battle of wills. Håfström, who also directed ‘The Rite,’ knows the material better than anyone.

The report arrives during a busy time for adaptations of King’s work. Edgar Wright’s remake of ‘The Running Man’ opens in November, and Prime Video just renewed ‘Carrie’ for a second season. That puts a ‘1408’ follow-up in a landscape where audiences are clearly hungry for King material.

It also fits the broader trend of legacy sequels. Studios have been returning to familiar properties with the original cast, hoping to combine nostalgia with new stories. Horror has been especially fertile ground.

So far, nothing has been confirmed. The report doesn’t say whether the follow-up would be a direct sequel, a reimagining or something else. It also doesn’t say where the film would be released or who is writing it.

Without those details, the news is best viewed as a promising rumor rather than a done deal. Still, the combination of a returning cast, an original director and a built-in fan base makes the idea hard to ignore.

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