Stephen King's HOLLY Is Getting a Series Adaptation From Veteran King Series Producer
Another Stephen King novel is getting a series adaptation! Holly is being developed by producer Jack Bender, who has a good amount of experience adapting King projects for TV. He previously worked on shows such as Under The Dome, Mr. Mercedes, and HBO’s The Outsider, and he’s also developing a film adaptation of King’s Elevation along with a limited series version of The Institute.
Bender shared this bit of news last year during a Q&A as part of Chicago’s 2023 Printers Row Lit Fest (via CinemaBlend). He was there to talk about his book I Am Sorry: Art and Apologies, and at one point Bender shared insight on his time working with King, saying:
“It’s the joy of telling stories and the making of that with a group of people. That’s one of the best things about making television, when you’re working with great people on material you care about. I’ve been fortunate to know and work with Stephen King – talking about writers. His new book Holly, by the way, is great. We’re going to make a show out of that. We haven’t announced it.”
When the interviewer asked if this was a “scoop,” Jack Bender replied, “A little bit.” In case you don’t know or remember, Holly follows the character Holly Gibney, who was introduced in Mr. Mercedes, and she also appeared in a couple of other King stories. It’s awesome that this is being developed as a series!
The description of the book reads:
Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
The character was best portrayed in the Mr. Mercedes series by Justine Lupe, and I hope that Bender brings her back to play the character in this Holly series. The project is still in early development, though, and it’s going to be awhile before we see anything from it.
Bender is currently focusing on the horror series From and the adaptation of The Institute is next on his list of projects to develop. Bender said:
“I’m also doing his book The Institute when I finish From. But Stephen is a remarkable guy. He’s a guy in a T-shirt and a hat. He’s the least pretentious genius I’ve ever met.”
What are your thoughts on Holly being adapted into a series?