HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider left the door ajar for more, which will escape the boundaries of King’s book. Yet considering that the show scored high ratings, more El Cuco (from the imagination of screenwriter Richard Price) will certainly be welcome. Recently, Jason Bateman (who directed episodes and played Terry Maitland) hinted at an upcoming “free ball” of a storyline, and Yul Vasquez (who portrayed the voice of reason, Yunis, against Ben Mendelsohn’s skeptic cop) teased that talks were ongoing on whether Season 2 would officially be greenlit. Now, it seems that Stephen King has let the bogeyman out of the bag.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly to promote Mr. Mercedes on Peacock, King talked about TV’s two versions of Holly Gibney. Justine Lupe’s playing the role on Mr. Mercedes, of course, and Cynthia Erivo gave the character a savant edge on The Outsider. King had nothing but praise for both actresses, and then he expressed hopes for Erivo to continue in Season 2, which he seemingly confirmed is happening:
“Cynthia may get that time, because there’s going to be a second season of The Outsider as soon as they can get the production going… I know exactly where it’s going because I have seen some of the scripts. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. I’ll just say that it’s really great and a real spooky paranormal element.”
It’s hard to imagine how The Outsider could continue without Erivo’s version of Holly Gibney, so let’s hope that a deal is being hammered out. Viewers will want to see what happens after Holly acted strange (for her) in last season’s finale, along with being apparently afflicted with an El Cuco scratch, leading many to hope that, somewhere, there might be a Holly doppelganger out there to shake up everyone’s little world. Robert Englund would probably be so happy to see that happen, and no one wants to see Freddie Krueger be let down.
More than likely, we won’t be seeing Paddy Considine return for a Season 2, however. He’ll be busy sporting a white wig and suiting up for House Targaryen prequel of Game of Thrones. No more Claude and Doppelganger Claude? Well, Paddy is doing just fine.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)