8 Alternative Endings To Stephen King Novels That Were Originally Planned

King's 2009 novel, which later became the basis for CBS television series that lasted three seasons, began as another, rather different work. The novel - which follows the inhabitants of a small town that is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world via an impassible, invisible barrier - started life decades earlier as a manuscript by King entitled The Cannibals.

King started work on it in 1972 and continued on-and-off with it for some 10 years. The manuscript was hand-written and stretched some 450 pages. King first spoke about it during the filming of Creepshow, in which starred, saying in an interview:

"I've got about four-hundred-and-fifty pages done and it is all about these people who are trapped in an apartment building. Worst thing I could think of. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if they all ended up eating each other? It's very, very bizarre because it's all on one note. And who knows whether it will be published or not?"

Said novel was never finished after King apparently lost the manuscript (ah the days before the internet) and couldn't bring himself to start all over. He did, however, eventually rework many of his ideas from that book into Under the Dome. King later published a 61-page facsimile excerpt, consisting of the first four chapters of The Cannibals, after he was accused of copying The Simpsons Movie for Under the Dome.