Despite adapting an acclaimed Stephen King book, an 8-part Apple TV psychological horror series largely remains forgettable. While not all Stephen King adaptations end up becoming critical and commercial hits, the horror author’s association with them alone is enough to prompt many horror fans to check them out. The Apple TV show in question also seems quite promising before its premiere and even boasted an impressive cast.

Yet, even after having so much going in its favor, Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story struggled to leave its mark among the vast number of Stephen King adaptations that are churned out every year. After a very long time, TV shows based on Stephen King’s books are finally starting to do well. While It: Welcome to Derry and The Institute are both set to return with new seasons, Mike Flanagan’s Carrie, too, has immense potential.

Before these shows, however, Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story could have marked the inception of a new dawn for small-screen Stephen King adaptations. Like The Institute and It: Welcome to Derry, it could have been the first of many ambitious Stephen King TV projects to arrive on streaming. Unfortunately, the show was so underwhelming that most viewers do not even remember it anymore.

Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story Is One Of The Most Forgettable Stephen King Adaptations

With Julianne Moore and Clive Owen as two of its main leads and Pablo Larraín at its helm, Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story should have become one of the better Stephen King adaptations. Unfortunately, almost five years after its release, it seems like most viewers have even forgotten about its existence. Perhaps one of the biggest issues with the show was that its source material served as a deeply personal story for Stephen King.

The idea for Lisey’s Story came to Stephen King after he returned home from a long stay at the hospital. While he was down with double pneumonia, his wife redesigned his studio. After seeing his belongings in boxes, Stephen King realized what his studio would look like after his demise. It is this realization that later became his inspiration for Lisey’s Story.

Touting Lisey’s Story as one of his favorite books, Stephen King even hopped onboard to pen the show’s scripts. However, the issue with the script was that it seemed a little too faithful to his book, making the show seem like a dense internal monologue rather than a progressive story about grief and memory.

Even from a visual standpoint, Pablo Larraín art house vision made it seem more stylized and atmospheric than it needed to be. This made its slow-burn storytelling feel even more sluggish because the lack of depth in its storytelling just did not align well with its visual flair.

While Apple TV’s Lisey’s Story is not entirely unwatchable and can still compel viewers looking for something stunningly beautiful and incredibly well-acted, it is far from being one of Stephen King’s best adaptations.

Lisey’s Story Proves Some Stephen King Stories Should Not Be Adapted

Stephen King’s books and stories have almost holy grails for horror adaptations. And while it is true that most of his books translate fairly well to the screen, not all of his stories have to be adapted. Like Lisey’s Story, even other Stephen King books like Insomnia and From a Buick 8 are written to sit in the space between a reader’s imagination and King’s prose.

Even if they are adapted, they will have to be completely altered to work well as TV shows or movies. 2003’s Dreamcatcher faces similar issues after trying to preserve too much of King’s eccentric narrative instead of reshaping it for the screen. Even 1993’s The Tommyknockers has long been forgotten because it tries too hard to compact Stephen King’s 700-page addiction allegory into its short runtime.

Despite being hit or miss, Stephen King adaptations remain exciting, explaining why some of the most anticipated horror shows of 2026 are also based on the author’s books. However, it is about time his books and stories are approached with more caution instead of being treated as guaranteed adaptation material.

Lisey’s Story

Release Date

2021 – 2021-00-00

Directors

Pablo Larrain