Stephen King’s career spans decades. The result is a bounty of nefarious horrors from outer space, beyond the grave, and behind the door of room 217. When King’s around the supernatural is not far behind.
King has also been known to impart a few other staples upon readers: his stories often take place in Maine, his main characters are often writers, baseball has been known to work its way into his stories more than once, and he’s not averse to an unusual coming-of-age tale. He’s also fond of the occasional crossover.
Another thing most of his stories share in common is that they’ve practically all been adapted for film or TV. So it is with The Outsider, King’s 2018 horror novel that’s recently been adapted into a miniseries. Now The Outsider may take place in Oklahoma instead of Maine (and in Georgia in the series), but it does feature baseball and there is a noteworthy crossover in play. That crossover comes in the form of Holly Gibney.
A private investigator, the character first appeared in Mr. Mercedes, which is the first book in King’s Bill Hodges trilogy. In 2017, Mr. Mercedes was adapted into a series with Justine Lupe cast as Gibney.
In 2018, the character appeared again, this time in King's The Outsider. Two years later, the miniseries adaptation is here and playing the character is English actress Cynthia Erivo.
The actress started her year on a very good note, having been nominated for Best Actress and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. Both nods were for the film Harriet, in which Erivo plays real-life abolitionist and activist, Harriet Tubman.
If Erivo looks familiar, it’s probably because you’ve watched her in Widows or Bad Times at the El Royale. Now you’ll get to watch her ply her craft as Holly Gibney in The Outsider.
If you’ve read any of the books she appears in, or even just watched the trailer for The Outsider, you’ll notice there’s something extraordinary about her character. But we’ll let Erivo tell you more about that. Watch her below.
The Outsider airs every Thursday, starting 23 April, at 22:00 on M-Net channel 101.