A seven-year-old King's short story The Monkey, which mostly earned positive reviews from viewers and critics.
The Monkey was followed up by It: Welcome to Derry is among the most hyped projects in the works. Another Stephen King TV adaptation, which is scheduled to release this summer, is showing immense potential. However, it is hard not to see how the TV project could become even better if it emulated the storytelling formula adopted by an adaptation that was canceled after two seasons.
I'll Be Disappointed If The Institute's Adaptation Does Not Tie Into Other Stephen King Stories
The Show Has The Perfect Opportunity To Feature Several Iconic Stephen King Characters
MGM+'s The Institute is another exciting Stephen King adaptation, which is based on the horror author's book of the same name. It primarily focuses on a bunch of super-powered children who are abducted and experimented on by the titular facility. When the teenagers in the story gradually start learning the truth about the Institute where they are held, they set out to escape it before it is too late. Just by looking at The Institute's surface-level story, it is hard not to see how many Stephen King stories adopt similar ideas.
The Institute's adaptation has the perfect opportunity to draw some connective threads between multiple Stephen King novels.
For instance, even in Firestarter, an organization called The Shop performs morally questionable experiments on humans to give them supernatural abilities. Stephen King's Dark Tower also features an arc in which a group of telepaths, called the Breakers, are held in captivity by Trans Corporation and asked to break the Dark Tower's beams. Characters in King's novels, like The Shining and Doctor Sleep, also have psychic abilities similar to the young characters from The Institute.
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Stephen King never took the opportunity to draw clear connections between these stories. However, The Institute's adaptation has the perfect opportunity to draw some connective threads between multiple Stephen King novels. Although the show does not necessarily have to pave the way for a full-fledged horror universe, it can draw references to Children of Haven from Tommyknockers, Carrie White from Carrie, Danny from The Shining, Charlie McGee in Firestarter, Joe (Leo) in The Stand, and several other Stephen King characters with supernatural powers.
The Institute Can Repeat The Stephen King Shared Universe Approach Of Hulu's Castle Rock
Long Before The Institute, Castle Rock Combined Many Story Elements From Many Stephen King Shows
Instead of loyally adapting Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, Mike Flanagan created a brilliant mishmash of several Poe stories with his Netflix adaptation of the horror author's short story. Long before Mike Flanagan, Hulu's Castle Rock also pulled off something similar. Based on the fictional town appearing in Stephen King's fictional Maine, Castle Rock riffed on many ideas and character beats from multiple Stephen King stories. From the Shawshank Penitentiary to subtle callbacks to The Green Mile, Stand By Me, Christine, and The Shining, Castle Rock featured it all.
Unfortunately, despite earning positive reviews from both viewers and critics, Castle Rock failed to last longer than two seasons. The Institute can still learn from it and create its own Stephen King horror universe by featuring characters from multiple horror stories written by the author. This would make the show immensely appealing not only to new viewers who are only starting to dip their feet into the King of Horror's works but also to those who are well-versed with his stories and quick to notice the loosely shared lore scattered throughout his vast literary world.
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The Institute
- Release Date
- July 13, 2025
- Directors
- Jack Bender
A kidnapped prodigy with special abilities, Luke, ends up at The Institute, while Tim, a former cop, seeks a new life in a nearby town. Their fates are inevitably linked.
- Cast
- Mary-Louise Parker, Ben Barnes, Julian Richings, Martin Roach, Robert Joy, Jason Diaz, Dan Beirne, Hannah Galway, Simone Miller, Birva Pandya, Jane Luk, Viggo Hanvelt, Arlen So, Tyler Murree, Fionn Laird, Joe Freeman
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- MGM+
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Castle Rock
- Release Date
- 2018 - 2019-00-00
- Showrunner
- Dustin Thomason
- Directors
- Dustin Thomason
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingBUYCastle Rock is a supernatural/horror television series based on the works of Stephen King. Set in the titular town in Maine, the show covers an anthology of supernatural stories surrounding various characters that work, live, and visit Castle Rock, all of which sharply turn the mundane lives of northeasterners into compelling tales of the extraordinary - both good and bad.
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
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