The Stephen King renaissance continues! According to Variety, HBO has ordered a series adaptation of King’s latest novel, The Outsider, with Rogue One’s Ben Mendelsohn attached to star. The first two episodes will be directed by Jason Bateman, who will also serve as an executive producer.
The Outsider is a fascinating entry in King’s oeuvre. A police procedural about a dead 11-year-old boy and the man accused of murdering him, it quickly spirals into a supernatural story about a mysterious, cave-dwelling entity; that gives the seemingly straightforward story a surreal edge. Think True Detective, but scarier–and way weirder.
The new series will hail from studio MRC, which also produces Bateman’s Emmy-nominated Netflix series Ozark, and comes in the middle of a giant Stephen King pop culture revival. Last year’s It: Chapter One started the trend when it became the highest-grossing horror film of all time. There was also the critically acclaimed Gerald’s Game from Mike Flanagan (who will return with another King film, Doctor Sleep, in 2019); the Hulu series Castle Rock, set in the fictional Maine town where many of King’s stories take place; and a bevy of upcoming movie and TV adaptations, like Pet Sematary and Firestarter, and the sequel to It, to name a few.
That’s a whole lot of King to keep fans of the horror master satiated. With HBO, Mendelsohn, and Bateman’s involvement, The Outsider just jumped to the top of that excitement pile. We can’t wait to see what sort of creepy stuff this creative crew can conjure.
Images: Lucasfilm, Warner Bros.
