WARNING! This article contains major SPOILERS for Salem's Lot (2024)!The 2024 adaptation of cast of Salem’s Lot (2024) is led by Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, an author who returns to his childhood home to research the sinister Marsten House and discover more about the tragedies from his youth. However, Ben arrives at Jerusalem’s Lot at the same time that a mysterious new resident has moved into the Marsten House, which culminates in the titular town being overrun by vampires.

Max’s Salem’s Lot movie ends with Ben Mears and Mark Petrie killing the lead vampire Kurt Barlow, hoping to end the chaos in town. Unfortunately, killing Barlow proves ineffective in destroying the other creatures of the night, with the final moments of the film seeing Ben and Mark drive out of town to safety. However, Stephen King’s 1975 book of the same name ends with an epilogue that reveals what happened to both Ben Mears and Mark Petrie after fleeing town that night, which may indicate the potential for a Salem’s Lot 2 movie on Max.

Ben Mears Returned To Salem's Lot A Year Later To Burn The Town

Ben & Mark Returned To Battle The Vampires Again After A Year

The Salem’s Lot book includes both a prologue and epilogue that give important details about Ben and Mark’s whereabouts and fate after killing Kurt Barlow, though they don’t make it into the 2024 Salem’s Lot’s vampires.

However, it isn’t until much later that Ben and Mark’s story truly continues. The epilogue of Stephen King’s book reveals that Mark and Ben return to Jerusalem’s Lot a year later, planning to confront the vampires again and rid the town of them for good. To accomplish this, Ben decides to start a brush fire in the woods nearby, draw the vampires out of their hiding places, and destroy the town. Sadly, King’s other books that reference the town after Salem’s Lot’s events reveal that it wasn’t entirely destroyed, but Ben and Mark still successfully took down many vampires.

Ben Mears Died In His 50s

Mark Petrie Spoke At Ben's Funeral In Mexico

Though Ben Mears’ whereabouts and actions after burning down Salem’s Lot in 1976 are generally unknown, the larger Stephen King universe does give an update on the character in another story. In Wolves of the Calla, the fifth book in King’s The Dark Tower series, the Salem’s Lot character Father Callahan explains that he was sent to Los Zapatos, Mexico and witnessed Ben’s funeral. The novel reveals that Ben Mears died in his 50s, but doesn’t reveal exactly how he ed away.

Father Callahan survived the events of Salem's Lot in Stephen King's book, but the character dies in the 2024 movie adaptation.

In addition to Father Callahan, Ben’s funeral in Mexico was attended by a grown-up Mark Petrie. It’s later learned that the fire Mark and Ben set lasted about three days, suggesting the two had destroyed many of the vampires inhabiting the town before returning to Mexico. Callahan also explained that Mark referred to Ben as his father in his eulogy, indicating Ben raised the orphan after his parents’ deaths in Salem’s Lot. It’s still unclear what exactly Ben and Mark had been doing for the decades after Salem’s Lot’s ending, but they seemingly never returned after the fire.