After an exclusive screening of “The Outsider,” star Cynthia Erivo, along with director/executive producer/star Jason Bateman and writer/executive producer Richard Price, joined Variety’s Michael Schneider for a Q&A interview to discuss how they transformed the Stephen King’s 2018 novel into the HBO miniseries.
Based on King’s bestselling novel of the same name, “The Outsider” is a drama series that follows a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a local boy. However, when a supernatural force edges its way into the case detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) and private investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo) are forced to question everything they believe to be real.
Although Price said King was “hands off” during the entirety of the show’s creation, the series writer did share that he wanted to reinvent the character Holly, but King asked if he could leave one thing unaltered. “All he asked is that I keep the name Holly,” said Price.
Erivo, who played the unorthodox private investigator, admitted she did not want to read the novel version of Holly so as to not stray away from Price’s script.
“All the tools I needed were in the script that I had, said Erivo. “I just wanted to give myself the chance to create something without having any outside influence–– just what I had in front of me so that I could have the room to breathe and make her who I thought she was because she exists”
Watch the full conversation with “The Outsider” team above.
