The Outsider, Stephen King

Maybe you’ve heard of this Stephen King guy? He writes lots of books and stories, and people like to turn those books and stories into television shows and movies. Some people (us) even center whole podcasts on his work. That list of adaptations and related titles is about to grow longer, as Media Rights Capital has announced a 10-episode limited series adaptation of King’s recent bestseller, The Outsider.

MRC, which partnered with King on The Dark Tower, has enlisted Richard Price to write the series. Price’s television credits include The Deuce and The Night Of; the latter earned him a pair of Emmy nominations, and he was also Oscar-nominated for his adaptation of The Color of Money in 1987. Jack Bender and Marty Bowen, who previously partnered on the excellent TV adaptation of Mr. Mercedes, are on board as executive producers. No network or casting decisions have been announced.



(Read: Ranking: Every Stephen King Movie, Miniseries, and TV Show from Worst to Best)

If you haven’t read The Outsider yet, best way to get a sense of the story is to listen to this early Losers’ Club review — and fear not, there are both spoiler-free and spoiler-y segments. If you’d rather take your summary in written form, however, Deadline has got you covered:

“The thriller is an is-he or isn’t-he an innocent man accused of a horrible crime story, a theme King has covered in past fiction like Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, which became the film classic The Shawshank Redemption. Here, the main character is Terry Maitland, one of Flint City’s most storied citizens. A Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls, Maitland is arrested in front of everyone and charged with the grotesque murder of an 11-year old. Even though Maitland has an iron clad alibi — he was at a conference and seen by witnesses, his DNA was found at the murder scene along with fingerprints.”

If this announcement has you salivating for more King content, consider joining us next month at Chicago’s Music Box Theater for Greetings from Castle Rock: A Stephen King Film Festival. And be sure to subscribe to Consequence of Sound’s very own The Losers’ Club podcast, in which we dissect the author’s oeuvre while also digging into the latest in King news.