Stephen King briefly considered directing an adaptation of his novel Gerald's Game, a story widely considered unfilmable due to its restrictive setting of a woman trapped in a bed. Producer Mick Garris revealed that King expressed interest in directing the project with Garris producing, though the discussions never progressed further. This is particularly notable given King's disastrous experience directing Maximum Overdrive in 1986, which he himself has acknowledged as a failure.

A college student named Mike Flanagan read Gerald's Game in the late 1990s and was struck by both the challenge and necessity of adapting it for film. Flanagan eventually became one of the industry's most prominent King adaptors and fulfilled his long-held ambition by directing the Netflix adaptation, which starred Carla Gugino. Released in 2017, the film successfully tackled what many considered impossible to film, earning recognition for its execution despite its challenging source material and disturbing imagery.