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WIRE Buzz: The Outsider drops twisty trailer and Skarsgard teases his Randall Flagg

By Josh Weiss
The Outsider HBO

Today is a good day for Stephen King. First, you have his house being turned into an archive/writer's retreat. Then, you've got confirmation of Greg Kinnear boarding The Stand miniseries as the academic Glen Bateman. If you thought that was all the King news you were getting today, you're dead wrong, because we have two more newsy bits that concern adaptations of the horror author's works in pop culture.

Oh, and we threw in some mature Terminator: Dark Fate footage at the very end as an added bonus.


Leading the pack is the official trailer for HBO's television translation of The Outsider, a twisting murder mystery that stars Jason Bateman and Ben Mendelsohn. Executive-produced by both actors, the show kicks off with the arrest of Terry Maitland (Bateman), a pillar of a Georgia community who is accused of killing a young boy.

Looking to solve the case is Detective Ralph Anderson (Mendelsohn), who is grieving the recent death of his own son and can't make sense of the pieces. On the one hand, Terry's fingerprints are all over the crime scene. On the other hand, there's video footage of him that puts him miles away from the murder location. To crack the mystery, he enlists the help of Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), a private investigator with special abilities.

Watch the trailer now:

Bateman directed the first two episodes of the project, which was adapted for television by executive producer Richard Price (The Wire). The novel, which was published last May, also features a character from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, so you can probably expect an appearance from them as well.

Ralph Anderson, Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, Yul Vázquez, Jeremy Bobb, and Marc Menchaca co-star.

The Outsider premieres on HBO January 12, 2020. To learn more, click here.


Elsewhere in the King-verse, Alexander Skarsgård teased his take on Randall Flagg in The Stand miniseries for CBS All Access.

The main antagonist of the story (aside from the genocidal super-flu), Flagg shows up in several of King's novels, primarily those comprising The Dark Tower adventures of Roland Deschain. Given the character's looming presence across the writer's many works, showrunner, producer, and director Josh Boone is asking Skarsgård to base his performance on several of Randall's appearances.

"It’s extraordinarily thrilling and exciting. It’s a fantastic opportunity. It’s an iconic figure, and we’re just getting started … So far, I’ve loved it," the actor said during a chat with Sirius XM. "Josh Boone ... [has] been wonderful to collaborate with, and he’s a real nerd. He’s read all of Stephen King’s novels probably 10 times, which is a great asset for myself because Randall Flagg is not only in The Stand, but he appears in—I believe—nine novels. And I’ve not read all of them, so it’s been great working with Josh. He’ll be like, ‘Read this chapter from this book’ or ‘They mention Randall Flagg or the Dark Man here,’ and he’ll give you some insight to his background or who the character is."

Right now, The Stand's cast is stacked with A-listers. Beyond Skarsgård, you've also got Kinnear, James Marsden, Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Nat Wolf, Heather Graham, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, and Brad William Henke.

"It’s also fun working with someone like Josh who is so genuinely thrilled and excited to be doing this," finished Skarsgård. "That’s, sadly, not always the case on a set. Sometimes you work with people who are fine with being there, but [Josh] is like a little kid in a candy store. He’s a super fan and he is so excited about this opportunity, and I think that spreads to the crew and the cast when you have a leader who is so giddy about this opportunity."

Principal photography is currently taking place in Canada.


Last on the docket is a red-band spot for the new Terminator film. This is a fun one (for adults only!) because it really gives us a taste of how much Dark Fate won't hold back in terms of the action and dialogue. To lighten things up just a little bit, there's a hilarious bit where Arnie's T-800 states that he goes by "Carl" now. A grizzled Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) fires back with "I'm never gonna f***in' call you Carl."

Be warned that the footage below is intended only for mature audiences. It contains both explicit violence and language:

Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna, Natalia Reyes, Edward Furlong, Diego Boneta, Steven Cree, and Enrique Arce co-star.

Directed by Tim Miller (Deadpool), Terminator: Dark Fate opens in theaters Friday, Nov. 1.