This Underrated and Violent Stephen King Crime Series Has Three Seasons You Can Stream

There are a lot of Stephen King adaptations yet to come this year alone. The Life of Chuck is my most-anticipated, even if it isn’t a horror adaptation (despite being helmed by Mike Flanagan, among the best to ever do King), though I had plenty of gory fun with The Monkey earlier this year. That damned monkey might even appear on my year-end list, who knows? Still, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man is bowing later this year, and Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of The Long Walk is poised to release this fall.

That’s a lot of Stephen King, especially considering just how packed the past several years have been with adaptations, prequels, and Apple TV miniseries. The sheer volume makes it easy to miss some adaptations, no matter how good they are. One such example was David E. Kelley’s miniseries adaptation of Mr. Mercedes. The series is now streaming on Peacock, though it was a long, winding road to get there.

Per Peacock:  A retired detective sets out on a dangerous and potentially criminal crusade when a serial killer begins tormenting him through a series of letters and emails.

Mr. Mercedes aired for three seasons on Audience. What is Audience? Well, it’s a defunct cable channel owned by AT&T. The channel operated until 2020, coinciding with the conclusion of Mr. Mercedes’ third season. At that point, it was unclear whether the series had been canceled, though that was later confirmed to be the case, with NBC subsequently acquiring the show for its Peacock streaming service. While Audience reportedly permitted a great deal of creative freedom, it came at the expense of an audience, something Audience (ironically) did not have.

After the acquisition, King shared with Entertainment Weekly, “The three seasons are there, and they’re pretty darn good.” The show ranks among the author’s favorite adaptations, even if he has bemoaned its original run. Speaking with The New York Times in 2020 as the third season wrapped, King remarked, “It was like we brought a stadium show to a coffee shop. I liked it a lot, but nobody saw it.” Nobody saw it, despite strong reviews and a committed cult following. With so much King, it’s easy to overlook the gems hidden amongst the volume, though for fans of the author’s work, Mr. Mercedes is more than worth checking out.

What do you think? Do you have any plans to catch Mr. Mercedes on Peacock? Were you one of the lucky few to catch its original run on Audience? Let me know what you think over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.

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