Josh Hartnett’s turn in Netflix’s Below has reignited talk of him stepping into a Stephen King role — not as a ghost or a werewolf, but as the father who walks into a mist with his son. The 6-episode horror series, which premiered this week, sees Hartnett play Calvin, a fisherman in a remote Newfoundland town whose life unravels after a creature emerges from the sea. It starts like a Lovecraftian nightmare: fog, silence, and something moving beneath the waves. But by episode three, it pivots hard into eco-thriller territory, capitalism, climate collapse, forced resettlement. Leaving some viewers unsettled by the tonal whiplash. Still, Hartnett holds the show together. His performance isn’t just strong. It’s essential. He plays a man trying to protect his son, Wade, but ends up pushing him away, trapped in a cycle of fear and control. That dynamic, fatherhood under siege. Is exactly what made Frank Darabont’s The Mist endure. And now, with Mike Flanagan reportedly prepping a remake of Stephen King’s The Mist, Hartnett is being floated as the ideal David Drayton. Not because he’s a fan of King, but because he’s lived the part. His Ethan Chandler in Penny Dreadful was a cursed soul burdened by guilt, a reluctant monster with a good heart, a template that echoes King’s most haunted characters. He’s never starred in a direct King adaptation, but his career has been quietly building toward one. If Flanagan sticks to the core emotional beats. The father’s desperation, the collapse of trust, the choice between survival and sanity, Hartnett could be the anchor. Whether that happens remains unconfirmed. No official casting has been announced. But after Below, the idea feels less like wishful thinking and more like a logical next step. The question isn’t whether Hartnett fits the role. It’s whether Flanagan will let him walk into the mist.