J.J. Abrams admits he was 'relieved' Stephen King wrote every episode of 'Lisey's Story'

• J.J. Abrams said it was "a joy" to work with Stephen King in adapting "Lisey's Story."
• He added that he was "relieved" King wrote every episode and gave the filmmakers a "roadmap."
• Abrams also told Insider that viewers can expect less easter eggs, but they're still there.

J.J. Abrams said it's been "a joy" working with his childhood hero, legendary horror novelist Stephen King, to bring "Lisey's Story" to Apple TV Plus, out now.

Adapted from a 2006 King novel of the same name, the series tells the story of Lisey Landon (played by Julianne Moore), a widow sorting out the estate of her novelist late husband Scott (played by Clive Owen) while dealing with complicated memories of their marriage.

Abrams told Insider during a press junket for "Lisey's Story" back in May that King is "obviously such a brilliant and insanely prolific artist, but he's also just one of the loveliest, funniest, and sweetest people."

The director added that he was "flattered and thrilled," but also a little "relieved" that King decided to write every episode in the eight-part limited series thriller.

"I felt like that was going to be the thing that would help give us the roadmap we would need to do it justice," Abrams said.

The "Lost" creator took on more of a "problem-solving" role as the executive producer in the project, "dealing with things when they would come up," he added.

Abrams' fascination with King, however, began long before the two worked together on "Lisey's Story."

In 2006, Abrams and his "Lost" co-executive producers, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, met King in Maine where the four talked about the popular ABC drama and the process that goes into creating books and TV shows.

While Cuse and Lindelof each brought something for King to autograph, Abrams told Entertainment Weekly he didn't bring anything because he didn't realize it was an option.

"If I could go back in time, I probably would have found, if I still have it, the paperback to 'The Dead Zone' that I read when I was in junior high school," Abrams told Insider about rectifying his missed opportunity. "Just would be cool to have him sign that."

King says 'Lisey's Story' was inspired by his personal life

The book on which "Lisey's Story" is based is "very close" to King's heart, the writer said in a May 26 video shared on Apple TV Plus' YouTube account,

"I had pneumonia around the year 2000 and came really close to stepping out," King added, noting his near-fatal brush with the lung infection.

"When I came home from the hospital, my wife had cleaned out my study and I thought to myself, 'I've died. I'm a ghost,'" he continued. "And the idea for 'Lisey's Story' came from that. Particularly the idea that writers, when they make things up. They go to a different world."

Before collaborating to adapt "Lisey's Story" into a TV series, King and Abrams worked together on several projects, including "11/22/63," also based on a King novel, and "Castle Rock," which was packed with easter eggs and hidden nods to the author's impressive literary portfolio.

Abrams told Insider that while there are some easter eggs in "Lisey's Story," it's nowhere close to containing as many as "Castle Rock" did as the Hulu series was set in a fictional town of the same name where a lot of King's books, including Abrams' favorite "The Dead Zone," are based.

"This project felt less like it was about the easter eggs, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some things in here," Abrams said about the new series.

"But it wasn't like the 'Castle Rock' thing of trying to lay in, sort of, little special surprises," he added.

The first two episodes of "Lisey's Story" are now available to stream on Apple TV Plus with new episodes premiering every Friday.