Wicked Fans Have To Check Out Cynthia Erivo's Gritty Stephen King Miniseries

After largely being known for her live theater work, "Wicked" blew everyone away at the box office and introduced star Cynthia Erivo to a mainstream audience. That isn't to say that "Wicked" was her first screen work. In fact, the actor had appeared in a number of films and television shows going back to 2015. But among all of her previous screen roles, perhaps nothing deserves more retroactive love from all the people just now discovering her than her performance in "The Outsider."

Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name that was published just two years prior, 2020's "The Outsider" sees a small Oklahoma town rocked by a brutal murder. But this is Stephen King, so don't expect a basic police procedural here — "The Outsider" is soon revealed to be a psychological thriller with plenty of dark, supernatural elements. In it, Erivo plays Holly Gibney, a detective whose savant syndrome gives her a keen sense of perception over the crime scenes she investigates, and the suspects she questions.

Interestingly, despite the book version of "The Outsider" being released in 2018, Holly's origins as a character actually go back to 2014, when she debuted in King's novel "Mr. Mercedes." She subsequently became a recurring character in several other novels, both between "Mr. Mercedes" and "The Outsider," and following "The Outsider." In fact, his newest novel, "Never Flinch," is another Holly Gibney adventure.

Holly was first brought to the screen by actor Justine Lupe, who played Holly Gibney in a TV adaptation of "Mr. Mercedes." It's our pick for the best Stephen King TV series, running for three seasons on the now-defunct Audience network. King, who loves the Holly Gibney character so much that he has said he wished she was real so he could hang out with her, had nothing but kind words about both "Mr. Mercedes" and "The Outsider," as well as both actors' versions of the character.

While the "Mr. Mercedes" show managed to get three seasons despite being on a channel very few people paid attention to — or even had on their cable plan — HBO let "The Outsider" go after only one, as it was designed as a limited series. Fans initially hoped that it would find a new home for additional seasons, but given that it's been five years now without news of that happening, Erivo's time as Holly Gibney is likely at its end.