HBO Cancels ‘The Outsider’ But Producers Are Looking For A New Home For The Stephen King Series

The world of TV is interesting. Normally, in the old days at least, a TV series would last forever on a network as long as the ratings were good enough. And once the ratings suffered, the show got the ax. Well, that’s not the case anymore with folks like Netflix and HBO seemingly canceling shows that are acclaimed and watched by millions. In 2020, a show needs more than just viewers and a good story to get the renewal, as seen in HBO’s latest move to cancel “The Outsider.”

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Debuting in early 2020, “The Outsider” is a crime thriller that stars Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, and Jason Bateman, with the latter directing the first two episodes. The series is based on a Stephen King novel and debuted with solid ratings, growing with each episode, nearly doubling the initial audience by the time of the finale. Yet, HBO has given the series its walking papers, according to Deadline. But “The Outsider” isn’t dead yet, as producers on the show have already said they plan on shopping the drama to other premium networks and streaming services.

“We enjoyed our collaboration with Richard [Price], Jason [Bateman], Andrew [Bernstein], and the MRC team, and we wish them well in continuing the world created by the brilliant Stephen King,” HBO said about the move to cancel the series.

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MRC Television President Elise Henderson said, “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.”

As mentioned, the series is based on a book by King, but before the series debuted, there was a “series bible” that outlined future stories and writer-producer Richard Price already had the blessing from King on where the story would go for Season 2. So, clearly, there is still the desire to see where “The Outsider” goes in the future.

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So, if the series has awards recognition, solid ratings, an all-star cast, and beloved source material, why the cancellation? Clearly, there’s something more to this than just quality and/or ratings. You have to assume this is a financial decision, right? And if “The Outsider” isn’t safe, what about other high-profile HBO series that have recently premiered? Could something like “Lovecraft Country” get canceled as HBO tightens its belt? Maybe HBO is taking a page out of Netflix’s handbook, with that streaming service canceling titles such as “GLOWdue to financial and COVID-related issues. We’ll just have to wait and see.