MOVIE NEWS – The 2024 adaptation of Salem’s Lot omits some key details about Ben Mears’ journey from Stephen King’s original novel and leaves out revelations from related novellas. In Salem’s Lot (2024), Lewis Pullman stars as Ben Mears, an author returning to his childhood town to investigate the eerie Marsten House and uncover more about the dark events from his past. However, Ben arrives in Jerusalem’s Lot just as a mysterious newcomer settles into the Marsten House, leading to a town overrun by vampires.

Max’s Salem’s Lot movie concludes with Ben Mears and Mark Petrie killing the main vampire, Kurt Barlow, in hopes of ending the terror in the town. Unfortunately, Barlow’s death doesn’t eradicate the other vampires, as the film closes with Ben and Mark fleeing town to safety. However, Stephen King’s 1975 novel ends with an epilogue that reveals what happened to Ben Mears and Mark Petrie after they escaped, potentially hinting at a Salem’s Lot 2 on Max.

Ben Mears Returned to Salem’s Lot a Year Later to Burn the Town

Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot novel features both a prologue and epilogue that shed light on Ben and Mark’s fate after killing Kurt Barlow—details omitted from the 2024 film. The prologue takes place shortly after Ben and Mark escape the town, showing that they fled to a seaside location in Mexico to recover and plan their next move. During this time, Mark confesses their vampire encounter to a Catholic priest at a local church.

However, their story picks up again in the epilogue. A year after their escape, Ben and Mark return to Jerusalem’s Lot to confront the remaining vampires and finally rid the town of them. Ben sets a fire in the nearby woods to draw out the vampires and destroy the town. While King’s other novels suggest the town wasn’t entirely destroyed, Ben and Mark were still successful in eliminating many of the vampires.

Ben Mears Died in His 50s

While Ben Mears’ whereabouts and actions after burning down Salem’s Lot are mostly unknown, Stephen King’s larger universe does provide an update on the character in another story. In Wolves of the Calla, the fifth book in King’s The Dark Tower series, Salem’s Lot character Father Callahan reveals that he attended Ben’s funeral in Los Zapatos, Mexico. The novel states that Ben Mears died in his 50s, but the exact cause of his death remains a mystery.

Father Callahan survived the events of Salem’s Lot in King’s novel but dies in the 2024 movie adaptation. In addition to Father Callahan, Ben’s funeral in Mexico was attended by a grown-up Mark Petrie, who referred to Ben as his father during the eulogy, indicating that Ben had raised the orphan after his parents’ deaths in Salem’s Lot. It’s still unclear what Ben and Mark did in the decades following the fire, but they seemingly never returned to the town.

Source: Screenrant