Paramount has added Haunting of Hill House star Henry Thomas to the cast of their upcoming Pet Sematary prequel. Based on the bestselling 1983 novel by horror maestro Stephen King, this upcoming film is planned as a direct prequel to the 2019 film reboot that starred Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow. Shortly before the reboot’s US theatrical release, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura hinted at the possibility of a prequel, and the project was officially greenlit in February 2021 with the intent of releasing it exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming platform.
Now Deadline is reporting that Thomas, along with Billions guest star Samantha Mathis, will be joining previously announced cast members Pam Grier, Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Natalie Alyn Lind, Isabella Star LeBlanc, and Jackson White. Set to be the directorial debut of screenwriter Lindsey Beer, who has also been tapped to help pen the next Star Trek sequel, the new film will feature White as a younger version of Lithgow’s character Jud Crandall. It is not yet clear which roles will be filled by these latest additions to the cast.
No stranger to working in horror, not only has Thomas featured in both of Mike Flanagan’s hit Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, but he is also due to return for Flanagan’s next Netflix series Midnight Mass. His ongoing collaborative efforts with Flanagan have also provided him with the opportunity to play one of Stephen King's most well-known characters, Jack Torrance, the role previously made famous by Jack Nicholson in The Shining, in 2019’s Doctor Sleep. With those sorts of credentials under his belt, it will be interesting to see what Thomas and his fellow co-stars can make of this latest expansion of King’s Pet Sematary where “sometimes dead is better.”
Source: Deadline