Wait, no, HBO cancels The Outsider after one season

Just the other week, Stephen King was cheerily teasing a second season of HBO’s horror hit The Outsider, but as it ends up…nope.

Just a few weeks back, legendary horror Stephen King came out and promised that we would get another season of The Outsider, HBO’s creepy adaptation of his book of the same name. “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.”

Well, it’s possible we’ll still get a second season, but it won’t be on HBO. The network has just cancelled the show, Variety reports. “We enjoyed our collaboration with Richard, Jason, Andrew, and the MRC team, and we wish them well in continuing the world created by the brilliant Stephen King,” said an HBO spokesperson.

MRC, the studio behind The Outsider, is set to shop the series around to other networks, but it’s anyone’s guess if that will go anywhere.

The first season was a creepy, slow-building affair with great performances from Cynthia Erivo (as gifted but socially awkward private detective Holly Gibney) and Ben Mendelsohn (as regular detective Ralph Anderson), so it’s a shame the show won’t be returning. It’s also a bit of a surprise, since the first season was a ratings winner for the network. Maybe HBO thought the series had run its course — the first season adapted the entire book, although there are other King novels featuring Erivo’s character — or maybe the numbers still weren’t good enough to justify renewal given all the new COVID-mandated restrictions studios have to operate under at the moment.

If it helps, the mind behind another recent HBO horror hit — Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green — has said she’d be up for adapting another one of King’s works. “I would love to do a limited series of Stephen King’s It,” Green told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s my favorite novel of all time, but it’s such a thick book that you need time to sit with every character and really get into their fear. You could do a two-hour movie, but imagine a seven-season It.”

“And something with vampires,” Green added. “We need new vampires.” Debatable.

IT was recently as a pair of popular movies, so I dunno if we need another adaptation just yet. Green seems to be just spitballing, though, and admits that it’s a weird time for Hollywood. “People aren’t sure when movies and stuff will be coming back in a way that’s viable. I think that’s part of it. Also, there’s just a lot of shit going on in the world.”

Happily, if you want more King adaptations, you still have options:

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