Apple TV show makes up for King’s adaptation.
A new Stephen King-inspired show is currently airing on Apple TV, and it is hard not to see how it makes up for the streaming service's failed direct adaptation of the author's book.
While Apple TV's sci-fi catalog continues to grow from strength to strength, it still seems to be finding its feet in the horror genre. The streaming service's first horror show, Servant, proved to be successful.
However, Apple TV's second horror outing on the small screen, Lisey's Story, struggled to leave a mark. Based on a Stephen King book of the same name, the show had the potential to rank among some of the better small-screen takes on the author's works. With an incredible cast, including Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, and Dane DeHaan, among others, the show seemingly had the right ingredients to succeed.
Despite this, though, Lisey's Story earned an underwhelming Rotten Tomatoes score of 52% and has seemingly been forgotten five years after its release. Fortunately, Apple TV's new Stephen King-inspired horror comedy series, Widow's Bay, is nothing like Lisey's Story and is seemingly making up for the Stephen King adaptation's failure.
Widow’s Bay’s Success On Apple TV’s Makes Up Lisey’s Story’s Failed Adaptation Apart from having an elite cast, Apple TV's take on Lisey's Story also benefited from Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín and Academy Award nominee Darius Khondji cinematography. Even Stephen King was directly involved with the miniseries as its writer. On paper, the show seemingly had almost everything going in its favor.
However, the show was crushed by its own strengths. When Stephen King penned Lisey's Story, he drew from his own experience of recovering from a bout of near-fatal pneumonia. Owing to this, even though the show's script felt loyal to the book's essence, it seemed a little too personal to King and relied heavily on classic pulp horror tropes. Larraín’s direction, too, gives the series a highly artsy appearance, which did not align too well with its conventional story beats.
Apple TV's Lisey's Story seems to serve as the perfect example of how not all direct book-to-screen adaptations can work as well as others. Some have to take immense creative liberties to be able to do justice to their source material in the audiovisual storytelling medium. Widow's Bay, fortunately, does not tread the same path.
The show follows the original story of an isolated island town where the mayor navigates a strange set of supernatural events before opening his home's gates to tourists. Instead of directly adapting any particular Stephen King stories, Apple TV's Widow's Bay draws from the author's brand of horror. It features a new supernatural threat in each episode, and its terrifying villains come out and play with the characters like some of Stephen King's iconic villains.
In episode 1, Widow's Bay features a deadly fog, reminding one of Stephen King's The Mist. Similarly, episode 2 features a terrifying clown, reminiscent of Pennywise from IT. Instead of coming off as mere emulations of Stephen King's characters, the supernatural threats in Widow's Bay feel like subtle nods to King's stories. Widow's Bay's ability to brilliantly draw references to King's work while still etching its own identity explains why it boasts a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%.
Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay Is Like Castle Rock In a lot of ways, Widow's Bay is like Castle Rock. It is packed with tropes and beats that Stephen King popularized in the horror genre, but its story is completely original. Unlike Castle Rock, Widow's Bay does not explicitly carry its Stephen King inspirations in its sleeves.
However, as its creator, Katie Dippold, herself has confessed, Stephen King's stories served as key inspirations for the show. Subscribe to the newsletter for deep TV horror coverage Hungry for smarter horror TV picks? Subscribe to the newsletter for clear comparisons, context, and curated recommendations that help you tell homage from imitation across Stephen King-inspired shows and wider genre picks.
Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. Similar to Lisey's Story, Castle Rock, too, was weighed down by its tendency to become overly self-serious and convoluted with its Stephen King mythology.
Since Widow's Bay does not tout itself as a direct Stephen King adaptation, it enjoys the freedom of playing around with horror tropes while also adding a layer of absurd comedy to them. Widow's Bay also has an incredible cast, including Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root, and Kate O'Flynn, among others. After four episodes, it is already starting to look like one of the best modern horror shows.
If all goes well for the series, it could become Apple TV's next big horror hit after Servant and make up for the Stephen King adaptation's underwhelming reception. Widow's Bay Comedy Drama Mystery 10/10 Release Date April 29, 2026 A single father and pragmatic mayor of a New England island town contends with superstitious residents convinced that it is cursed.
Network Apple TV Cast Matthew Rhys, Kate O'Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, Christopher C. James, Reinaldo Troya, Shawn Jain, Kevin F. Conway Showrunner Katie Dippold Directors Hiro Murai Writers Katie Dippold, Kelly Galuska Main Genre Mystery Creator Katie Dippold Executive Producer Carver Karaszewski, Claudia Shin, Hiro Murai, Katie Dippold, Matthew Rhys Producers Matthew Rhys, Katie Dippold Seasons 1 Powered by Expand Collapse
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