2017 has been an interesting time to be a Stephen King fan. With IT, Gerald’s Game, The Dark Tower, Mr Mercedes and the upcoming 1922, there’s been a tidal wave of adaptations of the author’s work. Some have been good, some have been bad. One adaptation that won’t be moving forward is Spike’s TV series based on his novella The Mist, which has been cancelled after just one season.
THR reports that the cable network has pulled the plug on Christian Torpe’s take on the story, which starred Frances Conroy, Morgan Spector, Alyssa Sutherland and Gus Birney, and which broadened the scope from a single supermarket to a small town. The show was not well received critically, to put it mildly, and (more crucially) it began shedding viewers after the premiere. The site notes that after opening strong, “the rest of The Mist‘s run could barely draw 800,000 viewers — even with DVR. Among adults 18-49, the show couldn’t even crack cable’s top 30 scripted series.”
If The Mist had done well, it would have moved across to Paramount TV. As it stands, we’ll leave the surviving characters of the first season wondering what was going on with that train, and be left with the memories of the wonderful Frances Conroy doing some fantastically bizarre things in a show that didn’t deserve her.
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