Stephen King promises a second season of The Outsider

HBO is officially bringing us another season of its horror hit The Outsider, with Stephen King himself delivering the good news.

Earlier this year, before the pandemic had completely taken over our lives, HBO aired The Outsider, an adaptation of the Stephen King book of the same name. A spooky thrill, the show succeeded not only because of excellent pacing and production values but also the performances of leads Cynthia Erivo — as gifted but socially awkward private detective Holly Gibney — and Ben Mendelsohn as regular detective Ralph Anderson. It was just a well-done show, and while it adapted the whole of King’s novel, the season finale left room for growth. Are there other creatures out there like the one our heroes faced down? And is Holly now infected by it?

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King himself said that we’re going to find out. “Cynthia may get that time, because there’s going to be a second season of The Outsider as soon as they can get the production going.”

In fact, work is already underway. “I know exactly where it’s going because I have seen some of the scripts,” King said. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. I’ll just say that it’s really great and a real spooky paranormal element.”

That’s definitely good news for fans of the first season! Gibney does appear in several other King books, including Finders Keepers, End of Watch and If It Bleeds, so perhaps the show could adapt those. She made her debut appearance in Mr. Mercedes, but that’s coming to Peacock on its own.

In fact, there’s plenty of King projects on the horizon. Fans of The Stand can look forward to an adaptation of that classic doorstop of a post-apocalyptic epic later this year. King told EW that Alexander Skarsgard “knocked it out of the park” as villain Randall Flagg. “It’s big, let’s put it that way.”

As it stands, King has seen the last episode, for which he wrote a new epilogue. “I can’t tell you anything about the episode other than to say that I’ve seen a rough cut of it, and I think it’s fine.”

Fine, huh? Quite a ringing endorsement.

The Stand premieres on December 17. There’s no word on a release date for The Outsider season 2 as of yet.

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