From the highs of IT: Chapter 2, the middles of In the Tall Grass and Doctor Sleep to the very low lows of Pet Sematary, It’s been a relatively good year for fans of Stephen King, in quantity if not quality. 2020 is looking to get off to a similarly good start too with this very impressive looking adaptation of King’s 2018 book The Outsider, on HBO.
The 10 episode series stars Ben Mendelsohn (Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as an Oklahoman detective trying to unravel the confusing contradictions in the case of a child murder. Almost all the evidence points to Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman of Arrested Development and Ozark), however Terry was veritably witnessed, miles from the scene of the murder, at the same time it took place.
Having not read the book, I have no idea if there’s a supernatural reason to explain all of this but the series looks to nail that small town crime drama feel of recent HBO hits like Sharp Objects.
I’d gladly listen to Ben Mendelsohn read the phone book (do they still have those, maybe Wikipedia?) so 10 episodes of him growling his way through lines like “I have no tolerance for the unexplainable” and “you keep your mind open, I’m just gonna look for facts and evidence, dumb cop shit like that” sounds like a treat!
I’m guessing that Mendeslohn and Bateman are going to provide some powerful dramatic meat, seeing as Mendelsohn is producing the show and Bateman is executive producing and directing the first 2 episodes.
The Outsider also stars Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney (a character who also features in King’s Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch), Mare Winningham, Yul Vázquez, Paddy Considine (!) and Julianne Nicholson and debuts Monday 13 January 2020 with two back-to-back episodes on HBO.
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