Shining prequel gets itself a writer

The prequel to 'The Shining' has got itself a writer, according to reports.

Glen Mazzara, who took over from Frank Darabont as the show-runner of hit zombie series 'The Walking Dead', will pen 'The Overlook Hotel' for Warner Bros.

[Related story: Lost 'happy ending' to The Shining found]

Laeta Kalgridis, writer and producer of the Scorsese neo-noir film 'Shutter Island', and James Vanderbilt, the prolific producer/writer behind the likes of 'Zodiac', are also involved in producing the film, along with 'Black Swan' producer Bradley Fischer.

There's no word on a deadline for the script, or any other details for the project as yet.

However, being that it is a prequel, it should provide some insight to the mystery surrounding the isolated hotel, which consumed Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 benchmark horror.

Author Stephen King, who penned the original novel, is currently writing a sequel to 'The Shining', called 'Doctor Sleep'.

It follows the life of the grown-up Danny Torrance, the boy from the original novel now in his 40s, who is living in upstate New York and working in a hospice, where he helps terminally ill patients pass away using his mental abilities.

He befriends a 12-year-old girl who can also 'shine' but who is being hunted by a group called The True Knot, a sinister sect of immortal travellers who feed on children with her gift.

It's due to be published in September.