The Outsider season 2 not happening at HBO; may go to another network

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It was announced today that HBO has decided not to move forward with a second season of the Stephen King-inspired series The Outsider, surprising news given that King himself said the season was a go just last month. Before that, we had also heard that the events of the King short story If It Bleeds (pick up a copy HERE) might be worked into the second season.

And that may still happen, because MRC, the independent studio behind The Outsider, has not given up on the show. They are going to be pitching it to premium networks and streaming services in hopes of finding it a new home. The season 2 storyline has already been plotted out, with King's blessing, by the show's writer/executive producer Richard Price. Season 2 will (like the If It Bleeds short story) center on the character Holly Gibney, played on The Outsider by Cynthia Erivo. Price's story "expands King's universe, exploring the human, naturalistic and inexplicable with a sustained pervasive dread you can't put your finger on."

HBO said, 

We enjoyed our collaboration with Richard, Jason [Bateman], Andrew [Bernstein] and the MRC team, and we wish them well in continuing the world created by the brilliant Stephen King."

MRC Television President Elise Henderson added: 

We thank HBO for a great partnership in the first season and for helping to bring in a massive audience who fell in love with The Outsider. We are looking forward to finding a new home for this remarkable series."

Starring Erivo, Jason Bateman, and Ben Mendelsohn, the first season of The Outsider followed 

a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a local boy. When 11-year-old Frankie Peterson's body is found mutilated in the Georgia woods, police detective Ralph Anderson (Mendelsohn) sets out to investigate – with eyewitnesses and physical evidence pointing to Terry Maitland (Bateman), a popular high school teacher, Little League coach, doting husband and father. While the case appears ironclad, Ralph is baffled by the emergence of contradictory evidence that places his suspect in a neighboring city at the time of the murder. The mysterious set of circumstances surrounding this horrifying crime leads Ralph, a seasoned cop still grieving the recent death of his own son, to bring in unorthodox private investigator Holly Gibney (Erivo), whose uncanny abilities he hopes will help explain the unexplainable.

I haven't gotten around to watching the first season of The Outsider yet, but it's high on my "need to see" list.