There have been a lot of television adaptations of Stephen King‘s work, and admittedly, not a lot of them hold up. Still, there are those shows that are better than people give them credit for. With 67 novels and novellas and counting, and over 200 short stories, there is no shortage of King tales to adapt.
Some of his TV shows are made with King’s direct involvement, and some only with his sign-off, meaning that they can vary wildly in quality, and even in content. Just because a Stephen King show has the same title as your favorite story doesn’t guarantee it will actually be the same story.
In recent years, there have been some winning TV shows based on King stories. The Outsider and 11.22.63 are leaps and bounds ahead of The Langoliers and NBC’s Carrie from 2002. There are a few King TV shows that still haven’t gotten their due, though, and are better than they’re given credit for.
Salem’s Lot (1979)
Salem’s Lot might be a bit of a surprise on this list, considering that, for many, it’s the only worthwhile adaptation of one of King’s best books. However, it still doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It should be viewed in the same light as all the best Stephen King adaptations, not just a solid entry.
The two-part miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper aired on CBS in 1979 and has been quietly influential on the vampire genre. The series is set in the titular town and follows Ben Mears (Davis Soul), an author and former resident, who returns to his hometown to write about a peculiar property there.
Ben soon learns that someone else has an interest in the property, and they are more than happy to have visitors. The series changes some elements of the novel, but the changes work. Salem’s Lot also features one of the most frightening sequences you’ll find in horror television.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From The Stories Of Stephen King (2006)
Too few of Stephen King’s short stories have been adapted to television, and that’s a shame because it could be argued that some of his best and most frightening work can be found within his briefer tales. Thankfully, we have Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.
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Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King Episodes |
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|---|---|---|
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Number |
Title |
Short Story Collection |
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1 |
“Battleground” |
Night Shift (1978) |
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2 |
“Crouch End” |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) |
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3 |
“Umney’s Last Case” |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) |
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4 |
“The End of the Whole Mess” |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) |
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5 |
“The Road Virus Heads North” |
Everything’s Eventual (2002) |
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6 |
“The Fifth Quarter” |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) |
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7 |
“Autopsy Room Four” |
Six Stories (1997) |
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8 |
“You Know They Got a Hell of a Band” |
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) |
This eight-episode anthology brings eight short stories to life. Despite the title, not every short story comes from King’s 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Some of King’s strangest stories are adapted here, including the Lovecraft-inspired “Crouch End” and the surreal, musically inclined “You Know They Got a Hell of a Band”.
The series has some major stars too, including William H. Macy, Tom Berenger, William Hurt, Ron Livingston, and Kim Delaney. Not every episode is a ten out of ten, but there’s enough here that the series should have earned another season. The effects alone are enough reason to tune in.
Haven (2010-2015)
Haven lasted surprisingly long, and yet goes on mostly unremarked upon. Loosely based on the Colorado Kid, King’s 2005 hard-boiled mystery novel, Haven ran for five seasons and 78 episodes. Emily Rose stars as Audrey Parker, an FBI Special Agent who is sent to Haven, Maine, a small town near the coast.
A routine murder investigation leads Audrey to uncover a series of supernatural events that seem to be related to her arrival. The people of Haven, it becomes clear, seem to be well aware of this phenomenon and have their own contingencies to contain it and protect themselves.
The series is filled with callouts to King’s other stories, which makes the changes to the source material much more tolerable. The showrunners create a strong and compelling mystery with lore that fits right in with King’s tone, but offers plenty of surprises, even to those who have read the book.
Mr. Mercedes (2017-2019)
Based on King’s Bill Hodges trilogy, which begins with Mr. Mercedes, the same-titled TV series premiered in 2017 on the short-lived network, Audience, and ran for two years before concluding after 30 episodes. Brendan Gleeson stars as William “Bill” Hodges, a retired detective haunted by an old case.
Two years earlier, a man drove a stolen Mercedes through a crowd, killing 16 people, and Bill’s inability to solve the case has haunted him since. Harry Treadway plays Brady Hartsfield, an electronics store worker who torments Bill, first online, then in real-life, dragging him into a deadly game.
It’s a compelling, thrilling mystery, with twists and turns every episode. Treadway and Gleeson have fantastic chemistry as bitter rivals, and Treadway in particular is a menacing force. It takes some time to get going, but once Mr. Mercedes lays out the story, it’s a propulsive ride through some dark aspects of humanity.
Castle Rock (2018-2019)
Castle Rock is not based on any one Stephen King story, but any fan of the author will recognize that title immediately. Castle Rock, Maine is the fictional setting of several King stories and is a mysterious and sinister center for a lot of the horrific things that occur in his connected universe.
The two seasons of the show are separate stories. The first is focused on Henry Deaver (André Holland), a criminal attorney who left Castle Rock years ago but returns following a strange request. Season 2 stars Lizzy Caplan as Annie Wilkes and gives the origin story of the Misery villain.
Characters from other King stories make appearances throughout the show, and the 20-episode series is filled with dark mysteries that slowly unfurl throughout the two seasons, connecting them in surprising ways. Castle Rock received good reviews, and it deserved another season or two to fully investigate the town.
Chapelwaite (2021)
Chapelwaite is a one-season series loosely based on King’s short story, “Jerusalem’s Lot”, which is a prequel to ‘Salem’s Lot. Now you know where the apostrophe in the original book title comes from. A period piece, Chapelwaite is set in 1850 in the small town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine.
There, Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody) and his children set sail to claim Charles’ wealthy cousin’s estate after his passing. When they arrive, they find they are unwelcome by the townsfolk, and it doesn’t take long for Charles to figure out why. The deeper he digs into his family history, the more unsure he is about the nature of his very reality.
Chapelwaite is an incredibly atmospheric show, with each episode raising the dread and terror. Brody is excellent as a man attempting to bury his grief by putting his focus into the unknown. Harrowing and frightening, it’s an excellent example of how you can adapt a Stephen King story without doing a one-to-one copy.