10 Stephen King Movies Better Suited As TV Series

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Angry Gage holding a surgical knife in Pet Sematary. 1989

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

While there are many great Stephen King movies, some of them have stories that would have worked a lot better as TV shows. The works of Stephen King have been an inspiration to many artists for decades, and their popularity has led to their adaptations to film and TV, some of them even getting more than one adaptation.

Some Stephen King movies now rank among the best movies of all time, but some were quite disappointing. While the stories themselves are good, a movie format wasn’t the best for them, and they would have benefited more from an episodic format – however, there are also great Stephen King movies that would have been even better as TV shows.

Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is a 1983 novel that has been adapted into two movies, first in 1989 and then in 2019. Pet Sematary tells the story of the Creed family, who move near the town of Ludlow. There, they are warned by their neighbor, Jud Crandall, about the highway that runs past their house.

Unfortunately, the Creeds’ two-year-old son is killed by a speeding truck on that same highway. Unable to cope with the pain of his loss, the father buries his son’s body at the pet cemetery near the house, which brings back the dead – what he isn’t ready for is how his son will come back to life.

The 1989 movie is one of the best Stephen King movies, while the 2019 version is among the worst. A Pet Sematary TV show can fully seize the emotional weight and depth of the story, while also properly exploring the stories and trauma of each of the Creeds and Jud, along with the origins of the cemetery.

Stand By Me

Stand By Me is an adaptation of the 1982 novella The Body. Stand By Me takes viewers to Castle Rock to follow a group of young friends who set out to find the dead body of a missing boy. Stand By Me ranks among the best Stephen King movies of all time, with King himself praising the adaptation.

Unlike most of King’s stories, Stand By Me isn’t horror, instead being a coming-of-age drama. Each kid has their own stories and struggles, so dedicating an episode to each of them would be ideal for the story, adding to the story’s emotional depth and each character’s complexities.

However, I must admit that Rob Reiner’s movie is so good that, even though it would make a great TV show, it might not match it.

Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep is a 2013 horror novel and the sequel to King’s 1977 classic The Shining. Directed by Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep follows an adult Dan Torrance as he continues to struggle with childhood trauma and his psychic abilities. When a group of psychic vampires goes after Abra, a girl whose “shine” is quite strong, Dan helps her but is forced to confront his past.

There’s a lot to unpack in Doctor Sleep, such as everything Dan has been through since his traumatic winter at the Overlook Hotel, his substance-use disorder, and how he has dealt with his “shine” all this time. There’s also Abra and her family history, as well as the True Knot’s origins and purpose. Flanagan’s movie is great, but a TV show would have developed the story a lot better.

Children of the Corn

“Children of the Corn” is a short story collected in the 1978 Stephen King collection Night Shift, and turned into a movie in 1984. Children of the Corn follows Vicky and her husband Burt, who, after running over a child, end up in the strange town of Gatlin, where the children have gathered in a cult around a bloodthirsty deity.

Children of the Corn spawned a franchise with nine movies, a short film, a remake, and another adaptation.

Although “Children of the Corn” is a short story, and thus a lot of additions and changes had to be made to turn it into a movie, it’s a story that could make a great TV show. An episodic format gives more time to go into the backstory of Gatlin, the children, and how their cult began, and would add more tension and suspense to Vicky and Burt’s fight to survive.

The Long Walk

The Long Walk is a 1979 dystopian horror novel which King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Set in a dystopian alternative version of the US, The Long Walk follows Ray Garraty, who enters the title contest, consisting of a group of teenagers who must walk without rest, and the last one standing gets a big prize.

The Long Walk was finally adapted to film in 2025 to great success, but I can’t help but think it would have made a great TV show. Each episode could cover one or two days of the contest, going deeper into the backstories of the characters/contestants, their desires, and their struggles as they grow more and more tired and sick.

The Running Man

The Running Man is a 1982 dystopian thriller novel also published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Also set in a dystopian United States, The Running Man follows Ben Richards, who, to get the money he needs to save his ill daughter, enters the title reality show, in which he has to run and hide from hitmen sent to kill him.

The Running Man was adapted into film twice, in 1987 and 2025, but the story of Ben Richards is more suitable for a TV format. Splitting Richard’s fight to survive into episodes would be a lot more engaging, exciting, and suspenseful, leaving the audience wondering what he will do next and what’s real and what isn’t.

Misery

Another Stephen King movie by Rob Reiner is Misery, based on the novel of the same name, published in 1987. Misery follows novelist Paul Sheldon, who, after a car accident, is taken in by former nurse Annie Wilkes, who is his #1 fan. What Sheldon wasn’t expecting was that Annie would go to extremes to keep him close.

Misery is one of the best horror movies and Stephen King movies of all time, and I can’t help but think it would make an amazing TV show. Sheldon’s struggles to escape and Annie’s disturbing efforts to keep him with her would be a lot more suspenseful and terrifying in an episodic format, but, of course, the challenge would be matching the greatness of Reiner’s movie.

Needful Things

Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel adapted into a film two years later. Needful Things takes place in Castle Rock, where a mysterious antique store called “Needful Things” has opened, managed by the even more mysterious Leland Gaunt. Nothing in the store has a price tag, as Gaunt asks for small “favors” instead.

A lot of things happen in the Needful Things novel, with many Castle Rock residents falling into Gaunt’s trap and their stories intertwining in different ways, so a movie isn’t the best format for it. A Needful Things TV show could focus on a different resident in every episode, better exploring their individual trauma, desires, and connections to the rest.

Maximum Overdrive

Maximum Overdrive is based on Stephen King’s “Trucks” short story and is his only directorial effort. Maximum Overdrive is set in a world where, after Earth crosses the tail of a rogue comet, machines become sentient and begin a worldwide killing spree. Although it has all the elements that make a good Stephen King story, Maximum Overdrive is one of the worst movies of its genre.

However, I believe Maximum Overdrive could have potential as a TV series. With a solid script, strong cast, a defined tone, and good direction, Maximum Overdrive could be a one-of-a-kind TV show that could also be quite scary, especially in a time when AI is taking over, and stories about sentient machines seem closer than ever.

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower is a series of novels, following gunslinger Roland Deschain on his quest across a fantasy-Western world to find the mystical Dark Tower. This is a nexus point for all realities, and Roland must find it before its collapse, which threatens all existence. The Dark Tower is a complex world, and as such, a movie wasn’t enough to do justice to it.

The Dark Tower series is so rich and complex that it has enough material for a multi-season TV show, which is now closer to finally becoming a reality. Mike Flanagan announced in 2022 that he has the rights to develop a TV show based on the Dark Tower books, so they might get a new and better chance in the near future.