The confirmed renewal of a new Stephen King sci-fi horror show has finally ended a frustrating six-year drought. Although the show in question is arguably not among the best Stephen King adaptations, it does a decent job of capturing its source material’s essence and paving the way for future story expansions.
Stephen King’s books are often chosen for TV and movie adaptations, even though filmmakers and showrunners often struggle to translate his stories to the big and small screens. While some Stephen King adaptations have worked incredibly well, several others have fallen flat.
Fortunately, a new Stephen King TV show, based on his acclaimed six-year-old novel, has performed well on streaming despite having an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 63%. The show’s success has also prompted its streaming home to renew it for another season, which marks the end of a disappointing trend followed by shows based on Stephen King’s books.
The Institute Season 2 Ends The Streak Of Only Stephen King Miniseries Since 2019
In 2017, the adaptation of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes premiered and instantly became a hit among viewers and critics. This paved the way for the series to get renewed for another season in 2018. After a strong two-season run, the show returned with season 2 in 2020, which marked the end of its run.
Surprisingly, after Mr. Mercedes, no TV adaptation of Stephen King’s works lasted longer than one season. All TV shows, including the successful ones like The Outsider, served as one-season narratives, continuing the strange trend of not delivering sustained long-term explorations of the King of Horror’s scalable stories.
Fortunately, MGM+’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Institute has finally ended this trend. Even though not all viewers and critics gave it favorable reviews, The Institute managed to build a strong enough viewership to receive an early season 2 renewal. Even its showrunners crafted its ending arc in a way that allows the story to expand naturally, which makes its season 2 exciting.
What The Institute’s Return Means For Other Stephen King Adaptations
The Institute season 1 exhausts its source material’s story, suggesting that its second installment will follow an original narrative. The show’s potential to expand despite completely adapting its original novel’s story highlights how scalable Stephen King’s stories can be.
Did You Know: 2010’s Haven, which is loosely based on Stephen King’s Colorado Kid, is the longest-running adaptation of the author’s work with a five-season runtime.
This, hopefully, will pave the way for other shows based on Stephen King‘s works to be more imaginative with how they adapt his books and prompt them to use the novels as a foundation while branching out into fresh storylines. HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry can also take a similar approach by not confining itself strictly to the events of King’s It and aiming to last far longer than one season.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
