Stephen King novel Joyland to be turned into TV series

The novel, published in 2013, tells the story of a college student working at a North Carolina amusement park in 1973

(Getty/Warner Bros)

Another one of Stephen King’s books is getting the small screen treatment.

The author’s 2013 novel Joyland is being adapted into a TV series put in development by Freeform, Deadline reported on Wednesday.

Joyland, set in 1973, tells the story of Devin Jones, a college student who takes a summer job at an amusement park in North Carolina – and is of course left dealing with an unsolved murder.

Writer Chris Peña, who has worked on the acclaimed satirical comedy drama Jane The Virgin, is attached to the project, along with Cyrus Nowrasteh, the screenwriter behind the 2006 miniseries The Path to 9/11 and the 2008 drama The Stoning of Soraya M. Peña​ and Nowrasteh​ will write the script for the pilot and act as producers.

Producer Bill Haber will executive-produce through Ostar Productions, which was responsible for the 2006 Emmy-nominated miniseries Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, based on King’s short stories.

"We are honoured to be working with Stephen King – a master storyteller who understands the importance of culturally embedded tales that resonate with audiences on a deeply personal level," Karey Burke, the executive vice president of programming and development at Freeform, told Deadline.

Dozens of King's works have been adapted on the small and big screens over the past decades, including Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and of course It. The latter, which was first published in 1986, was first turned into a miniseries in 1990, with Tim Curry as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

A movie version of It came out in September last year, grossing more than $700m (£548) worldwide. A sequel titled It: Chapter Two is set to be released in September 2019. Bill Skarsgård will return as Pennywise, while Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Olef, and Jeremy Ray Taylor will reprise their original roles.