On Thursday, HBO released the official trailer for its upcoming 10-episode series The Outsider, based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King.
The Outsider is one of the many projects recently adapted from the work of King that have flooded the market, and have seen varying degrees of success. While the releases of Pet Sematary and It Chapter Two earlier this year turned out to be undeniable hits at the box office, Doctor Sleep underperformed financially despite positive reviews.
Could this box office flop be attributed to moviegoers being unaware that Doctor Sleep was the sequel to the 1980 cult classic The Shining? Was it because people could care less about its association to the Stanley Kubrick-directed film? Or, was there growing fatigue towards King's work?
If it's the latter, one way to get audiences back onboard with the idea of turning to yet another King adaptation is to compare The Outsider with something that a majority of people were fond of: True Detective. And just so we're on the same page, we are obviously talking about Season 1, not Season 2.
The Outsider tells the story of police detective Ralph Anderson, played by Ben Mendelssohn, as he sets out in search of answers following the arrest of Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) who is being charged for the grisly murder of an 11-year-old boy. Even in the face of a mountain of evidence that suggests otherwise, Maitland maintains his innocence, and even has an alibi that he was out of town when the murder occurred.
Anderson's pursuit of the truth finds him working with private investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), and where they go from there, you will need to tune in and watch. Bateman, who won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the "Reparations" episode of Ozark earlier this year, will be behind the camera for the first two episodes of The Outsider.
The Outsider will premiere on Sunday, January 12 on HBO.
