Stephen King Wants This Underrated Horror Series to Get Another Season

Bestselling horror author Stephen King has a lot of opinions about movie and TV content, especially when it comes to adaptations of his own work. He regularly voices these opinions using his X account. One such opinion has to do with HBO’s 2020 series The Outsider, an adaptation of his novel of the same name which he clearly believes deserved more than a single season.

On X, King quoted an original post by crime novelist Linwood Barclay, where the author praised the miniseries and demanded a second season: “Rewatching HBO’s The Outsider, based on the @StephenKing novel. This show SO deserved a second season.” King’s repost simply said: “Yes. It did.”

The Outsider tells the story of a police force that faces the improbable: a Little League coach named Terry Maitland has committed a gruesome murder. At the crime scene, the body of a young boy is ridden with bite marks, and when detective Ralph Anderson checks camera footage, Maitland becomes the prime suspect. The problem is that Maitland was out of town speaking at a conference, and he insists he’s innocent. A media frenzy ensues, and Anderson and his crew are led down a rabbit hole that will make them question their own reality.

Richard Price, famous for his work in The Night Of, The Wire, Ransom, and The Deuce, was the showrunner behind the shortlived series. The ensemble cast included Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, and Jason Bateman, who also directed two episodes. Other directors included Karyn Kusama, Andrew Bernstein, and Daina Reid.

The Outsider was critically acclaimed, and it holds a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is undoubtedly one of Stephen King’s best adaptations, so why was it canceled so soon?

HBO CEO Casey Bloys was very clear when answering why The Outsider didn’t get a follow-up:

“It’s always a challenge when you have something that is based on a book and obviously with
The Outsider
you’ve got a great roadmap. So if you’re going to go and do more without that, you got to make really sure there’s a story to tell. We just didn’t feel like we landed on a story that would live up to the first season.”

The Future Is Bright for Stephen King Adaptations

The horror author remains as prolific as ever, putting out original novels and collections at an even faster pace than he did decades ago. His books continue to be bestsellers, and when it comes to film and TV adaptations, things are looking even better. Some of the most exciting upcoming Stephen King adaptations are listed here: