J.J. Abrams feels 'incredibly lucky' working on Apple TV+, more shows coming

Based on the novel by King, "Lisey's Story" is a thriller that follows Lisey Landon, the widow of prominent author Scott Landon. When Scott's increasingly erratic fans demand access to his writer's room, a series of disturbing events revives memories of her marriage and the darkness that plagued her husband.

In a new interview released by Decider, J.J. Abrams discusses why "Lisey's Story" is different from his two previous collaborations with King.

"Stephen King reached out and asked if we would be interested in producing an adaptation to film of Lisey's Story," Abrams says. "I was obviously thrilled by the prospect, not just because I'm a huge fan of his but because I knew how much the book meant to him."

King has stated that the 2006 novel was his favorite he's ever written.

The interview discusses what it was like for Abrams to work with King, what challenges they faced bringing the supernatural world of Boo'ya Moon to life, and how critical it is to select the right actors when interpreting novels into visual mediums.

"When you're reading a novel everyone kind of sees a slightly different thing. As beautifully descriptive as the book is and as beautifully described as the world is, a novel is always going to be in your own head in some way. Whether it's locations, whether it's relationships, and the people themselves. How do you bring a character like Lisey to life? It's a lot harder than it might seem."

Abrams also discusses what it was like to work with Apple TV+. Abrams has another feature on the tech-giants streaming service, "Little Voice," and suggests that there are other projects in the pipeline as well.

"I will say I'm a big fan of the people at Apple TV+ and I love the experience so far. Certainly on "Lisey's Story" they've been incredible partners. I feel like at the end of the day a big company, a big network, it's going to be the people who are there, who are calling the shots, and who you either feel like you see eye-to-eye or you don't," Abrams said. "I feel incredibly lucky working with the folks at Apple because I think we seem to be seeing things that excite us all at the same time in a way. So I've been nothing but happy working with Apple."

"Lisey's Story" will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, June 4. The mini-series joins other Apple thrillers such as "Losing Alice" and "Tehran."

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