The Outsider: HBO Boss Explains Why Stephen King Series Was Cancelled

Stephen King fans were disappointed when it was confirmed by HBO last fall that The Outsider wouldn’t return for a Season 2, with HBO’s chief content officer Casey Bloys detailing that the decision was made due to the failure to find a story worth telling. While some King adaptations only borrow some components of their source material, the first season of The Outsider covered almost all the details of the original novel, which would require an entirely new adventure be crafted, as Bloys detailed that they couldn’t settle on a concept that would match the quality of the first season.

“We try to approach everything as if there’s going to be Season 2. It’s always hard,” Bloys shared with Entertainment Weekly. “And it’s always a challenge when you have something that is based on a book and obviously with The Outsider you’ve got a great roadmap. So if you’re going to go and do more without that, you got to make really sure there’s a story to tell. We just didn’t feel like we landed on a story that would live up to the first season.”

This 10-episode series follows police detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), as he sets out to investigate the mutilated body of 11-year-old Frankie Peterson found in the Georgia woods. The mysterious circumstances surrounding this horrifying crime leads Ralph, still grieving the recent death of his own son, to bring in unorthodox private investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), whose uncanny abilities he hopes will help explain the unexplainable.

The narrative blended the world of true crime with supernatural components, with the HBO series also enlisting top-tier talent. While HBO isn’t moving forward with another series, one star previously confirmed that the project wasn’t a “limited series.”

“It’s not a limited series,” Yul Vázquez shared with ComicBook.com about the series’ future. “I can’t say anything about it, but all I can tell you is that it’s not a limited series.”

If a new season were to be developed at another network, it would likely shift its focus to Holly Gibney.

Gibney is a figure not only from The Outsider, but also in the Finders Keepers series of novels focusing on Bill Hodges. The short story focusing on Holly, If It Bleeds, sees the detective witnessing news of a school bombing, only for suspicions to be raised that the reporter covering the news could somehow have a connection to the tragedy. The rights to If It Bleeds were reportedly being negotiated last summer.

Stay tuned for details on a possible future for The Outsider.

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