Will There Be 'The Outsider' Season 2? Maybe, Since The HBO Series Scored Better Ratings Than 'Watchmen' And 'True Detective'
Will we see The Outsider season 2? The HBO Stephen King adaptation was originally announced as a limited series, and the show covered the events of King's book in full. But right before the series premiered, HBO switched things up and removed the "limited series" tag from the show. Now, the ratings are in, and it looks like The Outsider finale scored higher ratings than both Watchmen and True Detective, two very buzzworthy HBO shows. With all this in mind, it seems all but inevitable that a second season will arrive. But what the heck is it going to be about?
According to HBO, the season (series?) finale of The Outsider drew 2.2 million viewers across all platforms, with the series as a whole averaging 9 million viewers across all platforms. Per Variety, that's the best performance for a new HBO drama series since Westworld season 1. On top of that, the Watchmen finale drew 1.6 million, and True Detective season 3 averaged around 8 million. The Outsider finale also drew 1 million more viewers than its premiere, which suggests the show has had some great word-of-mouth during its run. That gain is the largest from a debut to a finale for any first season of an HBO series.
That puts The Outsider in an interesting place. The series, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, seems very open-and-shut – the main storyline, about a monster that can shape-shift – is wrapped-up, just like it is in the novel. Still, there is a little wiggle room for more stories. For one thing, main character Holly Gibney, played by Cynthia Erivo, appears in several King novels. For another, the season finale has a post-credit scene involving Holly – one I won't spoil here, just in case you've yet to get caught up on the show.
The fact that HBO quickly went from calling The Outsider a "limited series" to just a plain old "series" strongly indicates that conversations have already begun about potential future seasons. For the most part, I really enjoyed season 1 – although I feel like it could've been trimmed down to a tight 6 episodes instead of 10. That said, if they want to make more seasons where Cynthia Erivo's Holly and Ben Mendelsohn's Det. Ralph Anderson investigate spooky stuff, X-Files-style, I will gladly watch.