Just when you thought It: Chapter Two gave you enough nightmares for a lifetime, Stephen King has returned with yet another book-to-screen adaptation, and this time it’s based on his 2018 novel The Outsider.
Yesterday, a trailer for The Outsider TV series dropped, and it’s safe to say it will give you full body chills. The series, which is set to premiere on HBO, follows the story of teacher and sports coach Terry Maitland (played by Jason Bateman) who is accused of murdering 11-year-old Frankie Peterson.
Despite people witnessing Maitland killing the boy, he was also seen outside of town at the same time the murder occurred – begging the question: how can a killer be in two places at once?
Police detective Ralph Anderson (played by Ben Mendelsohn) is left to pick up the pieces of the puzzle along with private investigator Holly Gibney (played by Cynthia Erivo).
Deadline reports that The Outsider is also set to star Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, Yul Vasquez, Jeremy Bobb, Marc Menchaca and more.
The Outsider comes hot off the back of last year’s Castle Rock, the psychological horror series based on King’s novel of the same name. Castle Rock starred Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgard as an enigmatic inmate at Shawshank State Penitentiary secretly held prisoner by Warden Dale Lacy for 27 years.
The series also comes just one month after the highly-anticipated release of It: Chapter Two, the second film to be based on King’s 1986 novel. As of October 2019, It: Chapter Two has grossed a worldwide total of $447.4M. It has also most likely given thousands of people around the world a lifelong fear of clowns.
If The Outsider has any of the chilling moments of Castle Rock or It, we’re in for a great series and one or two sleepless nights.
The Outsider will hit HBO on January 12th.