Stephen King‘s The Outsider is, for the most part, a self-contained story, and the same goes for the HBO adaptation. However, the HBO show did leave room for a second season – and it looks like that’s actually happening. To be clear: HBO has yet to announce an official second season, but someone in the know – Mr. Stephen King himself – says that scripts for season 2 have been written, and they’re “really great” and “real spooky.” Sounds good to me.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King let the cat out of the bag and announced plans for The Outsider season 2. “There’s going to be a second season of The Outsider as soon as they can get the production going,” the master of horror said. King actually penned a follow-up to The Outsider in the form of the short story If It Bleeds, which follows Outsider character Holly Gibney (played by Cynthia Erivo) investigating another supernatural foe.

However, King says that The Outsider season 2 will not be an adaptation of If It Bleeds. “It’s really complicated because of the difference in the two story lines makes it difficult to figure out how that could possibly be done in the world of [showrunner] Richard Price‘s creation of The Outsider,” King said. And while he would not give away plot details, he did add: “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.”

The Outsider followed”detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), as he sets out to investigate the mutilated body of 11-year-old Frankie Peterson found in the Georgia woods. The mysterious circumstances surrounding this horrifying crime leads Ralph, still grieving the recent death of his own son, to bring in unorthodox private investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), whose uncanny abilities he hopes will help explain the unexplainable.”

While King confirms that Holly Gibney will be a character in the second season he doesn’t say anything about Ralph Anderson returning, so it’s unclear if Ben Mendelsohn will be back. Of course, it’s also unclear when the hell we’re even going to see this second season. Like I mentioned at the top of the story, HBO is keeping mum for now. But King obviously has inside info here, so I’m going to take him at his word.

I enjoyed most of The Outsider season 1, although I felt like the pacing was a tad off – there was one episode where two characters take a very long car ride to go get some chicken wings, and honestly, they probably could’ve left that on the cutting room floor. But I enjoyed Erivo’s performance, and if she’s coming back for more, I’m interested to see how it all turns out.

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