Every Stephen King adaptation currently in development
By Rachel Roth
The Outsider
One of the more recent King works, published in 2018, “The Outsider” follows police detective Ralph Anderson on a straightforward murder investigation that transitions into a tale of supernatural terror. The novel is getting adapted into a limited series by HBO, the big boy of prime television, starring Ben Mendelsohn as Ralph Anderson and Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, an investigator that originated from King’s “Mr. Mercedes” novels.
It’s technically being labeled a “limited series” but it’s probably a limited series in the same way Big Little Lies was, in that it will get renewed for additional seasons after it wins all the Emmy Awards from the “Limited Series” categories. Aside from starring, Mendelsohn is also producing the series alongside Jason Bateman, who will direct the first two episodes.
The rest of the cast includes Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, Yul Vazquez, Jeremy Bobb, Marc Menchaca, Hettienne Park, and Michael Esper.
The Outsider has no airdate yet.
The Stand
King’s fifth novel can’t be called anything other than an epic, a terrifying epic that perfectly portrays a very real threat in the form of a superflu killing 99% of the Earth’s population. Monsters and evil spirits are fun to read about but an airborne illness that has no cure is believable, and it’s that realization of “this can happen to us” that makes “The Stand” so memorable.
Another cause for “The Stand”s lifelong fame is that it marks the first appearance of Randall Flagg, The Dark Man, who serves as one of the main antagonists in the Stephen King Universe.
The novel was made into a miniseries in 1994, but because it’s Hollywood, all things must eventually get remade and guess what, it’s headed to another streaming service (NOOOOO!!). In a process that’s taken nearly a decade, The Stand remake has been struggling to get off the ground since 2011 when WarnerBros decided to adapt it into a feature film. Now, it’s been chopped up into a 10-hour limited series for CBS All Access.
Josh Boone is set to direct and produce the series as well as co-write the script with Ben Cavell and King’s son, fellow author Owen King.