Salem's Lot (1979 TV Miniseries) - Sequels and Other Adaptations

Sequels and Other Adaptations

A sequel television series intended to air on NBC, produced by Richard Korbitz and involving Robert Bloch, was originally planned. The series was set to continue the vampire hunting actives of Ben Mears and Mark Petrie though was ultimately never made.

In a Fangoria interview, actor Reggie Nalder acknowledged to have spoken with production people about a sequel to Salem's Lot, but nothing came out of it. In 1987, a sequel was released, A Return to Salem's Lot, directed and written by Larry Cohen. The sequel used the poster art from the original depicting Nalder as Kurt Barlow, however the sequel features neither the character nor the same actor. Nalder stated that this did not bother him.

In 2004, a new television adaptation of Salem's Lot was made by TNT in association with Warner Bros. Directed by Mikael Salomon, the remake was shown in two parts with a similar running length to the original 1979 miniseries. It starred Rob Lowe as Ben Mears, Donald Sutherland as Richard Straker, Rutger Hauer as Kurt Barlow, and James Cromwell as Father Callahan (a substantially expanded role compared to the 1979 version).