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HBO’s The Outsider will be your new obsession

HBO has recreated one of Stephen King’s gripping novels for the small screen, and it’s safe to say viewers are hooked.

The Outsider Trailer

A new HBO series has been generating a whole lot of noise since it premiered a couple of weeks ago, with some industry professionals declaring it “unmissable TV”.

The Outsider, available to stream on Foxtel Now, is an adaptation of Stephen King’s 2018 novel of the same name.

King, as most movie and book buffs would know, is the fabled horror author responsible for stories including It, The Shining and Misery, all of which have been brought to the big screen.

But The Outsider has been remade for the small screen and so far – four episodes in – viewers are hooked.

And pretty terrified.

Starring Ben Mendelsohn, Mare Winningham, Jason Bateman and Cynthia Erivo, The Outsider is a who dunnit murder mystery with chilling supernatural elements (der, it’s Stephen King).

Ben Mendelsohn stars in the new HBO drama series The Outsider, screening on Foxtel. Picture: Supplied/HBO
Ben Mendelsohn stars in the new HBO drama series The Outsider, screening on Foxtel. Picture: Supplied/HBO

It opens as young boy Frankie Peterson is found brutally murdered and violated in the woods of the local town in Georgia. The body is in horrific shape, with bite marks, evidence of sodomy and lots of blood.

Several witnesses and DNA evidence place earnest Little League coach Terry Maitland (Bateman) as a potential suspect.

The core of the mystery hinges on strong evidence that Maitland both commited the crime but was also in a different city at the same time.

Confused? Yep.

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The show’s popularity has soared in the US since the first episode aired earlier this month, with live viewership up 36 per cent and a combined 6.7 million series debut views.

Viewers have swarmed to Twitter to urge others to tune in, including US TV broadcaster and critic, Joe Budden.

And then there were others who were just straight up petrified.

King and Bateman are among the show’s executive producers, while Bateman also directed the first two episodes.

The Outsider is available to stream on Foxtel Now, with a new episode dropping every Monday

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/hbos-the-outsider-will-be-your-new-obsession/news-story/c827e27fcf8826dff09f07a045250a92