Stephen King story If It Bleeds may be worked into HBO’s The Outsider series

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The character Holly Gibney has been in four Stephen King novels, and every one of those novels have been brought to life on the small screen. She was first introduced in King's novel Mr. Mercedes, then returned in the follow-ups Finders Keepers and End of Watch; those three novels were turned into the three seasons of the Audience Network show Mr. Mercedes, with the character being played by Justine Lupe. Gibney then had a major supporting role in King's novel The Outsider, which became the HBO series of the same name. There she was played by Cynthia Erivo.

Audience Network no longer exists, so the Mr. Mercedes show has probably run its course. HBO is interested in continuing the The Outsider series, but the ten episodes of the first season told the complete story from the novel. So what is the network to do?

King's recently released short story collection If It Bleeds (pick up a copy HERE) may have solved the problem. The title story in that book has Holly Gibney as its lead character, and Deadline has heard that If It Bleeds could "bleed into" the future of the HBO series.

If the story is worked into a new season of The Outsider, here's what viewers could see play out: 

Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog when she sees footage of a school bombing on TV. But when she tunes in again to the late-night report, she realizes there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. Soon she will find that she is not the only one to have suspicions about the reporter.

I haven't read or watched The Outsider yet (and also haven't read If It Bleeds), but I am a fan of Holly Gibney from the Mr. Mercedes books and TV series, so I'm all for King continuing to throw mysteries her way so networks can keep making TV shows with her in them.