On each episode of The Kingcast podcast, pop culture writers Scott Wampler and Eric Vespe discuss a different adaptation of Stephen King’s work with help from a guest.
“Scott said, ‘We should have it be not just about the books but about the adaptations,'” explains Vespe. “We hoped that we could get a lot of these people that we’ve met and become friendly with over the years to join up and luckily some of them have.”
Since the podcast premiered this spring, the pair’s guests have included actors Kumail Nanjiani, Thomas Jane, and Elijah Wood; directors Karyn Kusama, Mike Flanagan, and Scott Derrickson; and writer Seth Grahame-Smith, among others.
“The key is, we’re allowing the guest to decide what adaptation they want to talk about,” says Wampler. “It’s revealed all these personal connections that people have with the material. Elijah Wood came on and did Misery, and he hadn’t actually read Misery, but he’d seen the movie. He was able to talk about his experience with fandom through the prism of Misery. That was a fascinating thing to hear. We have a guest [this week] who is a person who had a very personal connection with ‘Salem’s Lot. They grew up in a small town where it turned out their cub scout leader was a serial killer. I was like, ‘Well, f— yeah, we want to hear about that!'”
A new episode of Kingcast is released on Wednesday. Wampler and Vespe lead us through their own ten favorite Stephen King adaptations, HERE.