Stephen King's Miniseries Hiding On Hulu Deserves Its Growing Legacy

Published Oct 5, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT

Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses.

They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer.

In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18.

Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity.

Stephen King is one of the most celebrated horror authors of our time, but his place in the genre hasn’t been limited to books. King has written some scripts for movies and TV shows. The ones that get the most attention are screenplays based on his novels, like the 1997 miniseries version of The Shining and the 1983 version of Cujo.

Unfortunately, his screenplays written specifically for TV don’t really get the same kind of attention. At this point, Kingdom Hospital is considered semi-lost media since it isn’t available to stream, and it only shows up for digital purchase very occasionally. If you want to see it, your best bet is to buy the physical DVD. You can at least buy Secret Window digitally, but it isn’t widely available or popular.

That being said, two miniseries with screenplays not based on his own books have found an audience once they hit streaming. Rose Red, based loosely on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, periodically trends and climbs the streaming charts on Disney+ and Hulu, usually around Halloween. While I love that miniseries, it’s nowhere near the quality of Stephen King’s 1999 miniseries Storm of the Century. Even though the show didn’t succeed when it first aired on ABC, it is finally getting the attention that it deserves and creating a legacy now that it’s streaming on Hulu. The truth is, it always deserved more appreciation.

Stephen King's Storm Of The Century Is Still Criminally Underrated

© ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Set in the fictional Maine town of Little Tall Island, The Storm of the Century centers on a community that gets cut off from the rest of the world by a historic winter storm. Amidst this, a mysterious man named Andre Linoge appears in town. It’s a very traditional Stephen King location and setup. Then, Linoge calmly murders an old woman. He won’t give any answers about why he killed her or what he’s doing in town. However, he surrenders himself, getting locked up.

From his jail cell, he starts leaking everyone's secrets in town. Suddenly, folks in the town start dying by suicide and killing each other, bringing the whole community into chaos. Linoge cryptically tells them, “Give me what I want, and I’ll go away.” To preserve the surprises for folks who haven’t seen Storm of the Century yet, I will stop describing the story there. However, I will tell you that the entire miniseries is tense, dramatic, and shocking.

​​​​​​It strikes a good balance between supernatural elements and pure psychological terror. Andre Linoge is a memorable antagonist who is as charming and suave as he is unsettling. He terrifies adults and draws in children, making him a dangerous foe. He forces the town into a difficult moral dilemma. Unlike many of King’s books, the story doesn’t get completely weak and disappointing in the final act. Instead, it stays strong until the end, making it a miniseries that lingers long after the last episode. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Stephen King considers Storm of the Century his favorite.

How Storm Of The Century Influenced Recent Horror Hits

Storm of the Century is recommended for fans of Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass. They have plenty of similarities and a few direct nods because, as Flanagan revealed on Tumblr (via SlashFilm), he loves Storm of the Century. Both stories take place in small island communities cut off from the outside world and targeted by a charismatic, manipulative stranger. They show that human beings are the true monsters, not supernatural beings. Plus, they have a jail in the back of a convenience store.

Similarly, It: Welcome to Derry includes a reference to the 1999 miniseries in episode 7. During the Black Spot attack, Clint Bowers and the other racists state, “Give us what we want and we go away.” Co-creator Jason Fuchs confirmed to Deadline that this was a deep-cut Easter egg meant to make the Stephen King TV universe feel connected.

The most recent show to pay respect to Storm of the Century is Widow’s Bay. Creator Katie Dippold has openly acknowledged the miniseries as an influence (via CBR), and she even included a direct on-screen nod to the series. Ultimately, Storm of the Century might not have had the ratings that ABC hoped for, but it clearly made a mark on horror pop culture.