WIRE Buzz: Nicotero directing Stephen King story; The Conjuring 3 in 2020; more

Today’s WIRE Buzz is horror, horror, and more horror — perfect for fans after an early spring spookfest. Stephen King, sleepwalking supernaturalism, and one of the most successful modern horror franchises all have some news for scare junkies to salivate over.

First up, Stephen King and The Walking Dead meet in a match that seems all but inevitable. TWD showrunner Greg Nicotero is joining the new version of Creepshow — now an anthology series coming to Shudder — to direct the King story “Gray Matter.”

According to a release, Nicotero will tackle the ‘70s story (adapted by writers Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi) with Giancarlo Esposito, Tobin Bell, and Adrienne Barbeau starring in the project, which will debut later this year. “Gray Matter” will function as the series premiere for Creepshow, showing fans old and new alike what kind of eerie content they can expect from the anthology.

As for the story itself, “Gray Matter” focuses on two small-town elders — Doc and Chief — checking on an alcoholic single dad because according to his freaked-out son, something is terribly wrong. And yeah, there definitely is. This is Barbeau’s return to the series after starring in the original’s segment “The Crate,” which is just one of the ways the new version plans to pay homage to the original.

Speaking of long-running horror franchises, James Wan’s The Conjuring universe just announced the release date of its latest iteration.

According to Bloody Disgusting, The Conjuring 3’s release date was announced at CinemaCon. The Michael Chaves-helmed film will hit theaters on Sept. 11, 2020, a year after Annabelle makes her return to the big screen in Annabelle Comes Home. While plot details on the third film are relatively scarce, series stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are returning to investigate a legal case where the defendant may or may not have some ghostly reasons behind his crimes.

Finally, the apocalyptic world of Chuck Wendig’s upcoming Wanderers is heading to TV.

According to Deadline, the book (which isn’t even out yet -- it drops July 2) is being adapted by QC Entertainment. Aimed to be a “socially relevant, provocative TV series,” which makes sense because they also produced Get Out and BlacKkKlansman, the plan is to adapt the bestselling Wendig’s new story into something that takes its oddball genre riffing and turns it into Americana commentary like American Gods.

The plot, about a trip across America with a rock star, a radio host, a scientist, and tons of sleepwalkers, is effectively a road-trip story — even when the roads are now under threat by the collapse of society as well as whatever strange malady is putting everyone to sleep. Figuring out the mystery behind it all is just as important as surviving along the way, which also sounds like the perfect plot pacing for a TV show.

No word yet on when the adaptation might start production or where it may air or stream.