HBO has once again proven its prowess in adapting Stephen King’s masterful works, bringing to the screen two profoundly unsettling yet emotionally resonant horror dramas: IT: Welcome to Derry and The Outsider. Both series delve into the harrowing intersection of deep emotional trauma and gruesome supernatural horror, captivating audiences and earning accolades, even from the master of horror himself.

IT: Welcome to Derry, the highly anticipated prequel to Andy Muschietti’s blockbuster It duology, quickly established itself as one of the year’s most talked-about shows. Its premiere, dubbed a "Red Wedding" by co-creator Barbara Muschietti, set an unmistakable tone by brutally eliminating most of its child characters, foreshadowing the relentless horrors to come. A particularly memorable moment from Episode 2, "The Thing in the Dark," featured a supermarket scare so effective it "stuck in [Stephen King’s] mind," as he recounted in an interview. This sequence, which includes terrifying pickle jars, is remarkable not only for its impact but also for being an entirely original creation, crafted specifically for the show and not directly pulled from King’s novels.

The infamous "pickle monster" scene centers on Lilly (Clara Stack), one of the few child survivors of the premiere's massacre. Her tragic backstory is revealed through flashbacks: her father died years ago in a freak accident at a pickle factory while retrieving her lost mood ring, leading to a gruesome urban legend that his body parts appeared in pickle jars across Maine. Haunted by guilt and grief, Lilly eventually sought treatment in a mental hospital, only to be tormented by classmates who weaponized her trauma by stuffing her locker with pickle jars. In the grocery store, Lilly experiences a waking nightmare, a vision amplified by the malevolent presence in Derry. The aisles distort, her dead friends appear on cereal boxes, and the store's loudspeaker taunts her. The horror culminates as shelves fill with pickle jars, revealing images of her father's severed body parts amidst the pickles. These jars then crash to the floor, forming a massive, tentacled creature from the glass and pickles. This sequence is a testament to the show’s understanding of King's horror, intertwining psychological terror and grotesque imagery with the profound emotional core of grief and guilt. King himself praised director Andy Muschietti’s "touch of genius when it comes to scares," indicating his approval of the team’s expansions to his world. Young Clara Stack's remarkable performance captures every ounce of Lilly’s fear, making the moment authentically King-like and further solidifying the series' exploration of evil in Derry extending beyond Pennywise.

Complementing Welcome to Derry's success is the re-emerging interest in HBO's 2020 Stephen King miniseries, The Outsider, a show many fans believe was unfairly cancelled. Based on King’s novel, The Outsider masterfully blends gruesome paranormal horror with a slow-burn thriller and prestige small-screen conventions. It tells a tragic tale of trauma, belief, and a small town—Cherokee City, Georgia—haunted by both natural grief and supernatural malevolence. The series begins with the brutal murder of pre-teen Frankie Peterson, with damning eyewitness accounts and security footage pointing to local hero Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). However, equally irrefutable evidence places Terry in two locations at once, baffling veteran detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn). As violence and paranoia spread, a hooded stranger with burn-like wounds is seen at catastrophic scenes, and Terry's daughter claims an insidious boogeyman has visited her. Ralph enlists the help of consulting private detective Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), whose keen intuition and unique perspective uncover a string of similar, inexplicable child murders, forcing Ralph to confront the possibility of mythical, eldritch monsters beyond human criminals.

The Outsider’s atmospheric opening, directed by Jason Bateman and penned by Richard Price, establishes a foreboding tone reminiscent of gritty thrillers, yet infused with King's hallmarks of psychological horror and emotional depth. The fusion of true crime and folk horror acts as a powerful metaphor for humankind's duality and the contagious nature of trauma. It suggests that ancient evils can prey upon human nature, and that the suffering can spread like a virus through communities. The series is elevated by its star-studded cast. Ben Mendelsohn delivers an exceptional performance as Ralph, the lifelong skeptic grappling with the inexplicable, his grief for his late son making him vulnerable to the encroaching darkness. Julianne Nicholson shines as Glory Maitland, a wife fiercely battling to hold her broken family together. However, Cynthia Erivo's portrayal of Holly Gibney is arguably a career-best. Holly, presented as being on the autism spectrum, is fiercely intuitive, empathetic, and resourceful. Her brilliance in numbers, details, and observation, combined with her openness to paranormal explanations, makes her an ace investigator, albeit an "outsider" to her rational colleagues. Erivo's nuanced performance imbues Holly with textured interiority, making her a flesh-and-blood character at the intersection of neurodiversity, race, and gender, far from a cliché. Despite its critical success and streaming dominance, and even having Season 2 scripts ready, HBO's decision to cancel The Outsider remains a perplexing missed opportunity, especially given Holly Gibney’s ongoing presence in King's literary universe. Its intricate blend of horror, mystery, and profound emotional exploration left a lasting impression, much like its contemporary counterpart.

Both IT: Welcome to Derry and The Outsider exemplify the power of Stephen King's storytelling to transcend mere jump scares, instead delving into the psychological depths of grief, guilt, and the inherent darkness that can manifest both within and beyond human comprehension. Their success on HBO highlights a renewed appreciation for King adaptations that honor his thematic complexity while daring to expand his established mythologies. Whether through original, chilling sequences like Lilly's pickle nightmare or the nuanced exploration of ancient evils, these series prove that King’s world continues to evolve and terrify in unexpected ways, cementing their place as compelling additions to the horror genre.