Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey (Jessica Jones, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) has joined the cast of Gary Dauberman’s vampire feature Salem’s Lot, Deadline reports, a new adaptation of the Stephen King novel produced by James Wan. Dauberman, best known for It, The Nun, and Annabelle Comes Home, is both writing and directing; this will be his sophomore directorial outing.

Hickey is set to play the character of Father Callahan, a recurring character in King’s works who is first introduced in Salem’s Lot as an alcoholic priest who suffers a crisis of faith.

Previously announced to be joining the cast are Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, Alfre Woodard, William Sadler and Pilou Asbæk, with Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale, Top Gun: Maverick) as the protagonist Ben Mears, an author who returns to his childhood home in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a vampire.

King’s novel was twice adapted for television: first a two-part mini-series in 1979 by director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre), and again in 2004 with Robe Lowe starring as Mears. This therefore marks the first time Salem’s Lot is being adapted to the big screen – discounting A Return to Salem’s Lot, which released in 1987 as a theatrical sequel to Hooper’s mini-series.