WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for HBO's The Outsider.
As with most streaming series and TV networks, HBO took many liberties in bringing Stephen King's The Outsider to life over 10 episodes. Initially, it seemed like a one-off series but as the show progressed, not to mention the way it ended, it became obvious the network was looking at expanding the story of the Grief Eater, a shape-shifting monster moving from Georgia to Tennessee.
In addition to changes made to this prehistoric creature, leeway was also taken with the team led by detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) and psychic Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo), tasked with stopping its feeding process. Let's look at the major alterations from the novel.
THE ANDERSONS
In the show, Ralph is haunted by his son, Derek, who dies from cancer, and sees his ghost in dreams, as well as in the finale when he faces off against the beast. Derek isn't dead in the books, though, he's off at summer camp as his dad tracks the ghoul. This is done to add grief to Ralph's story and make him dogged in his pursuit of child killers. Ralph is also much bigger physically in the novel but in the show, he's played by the small-framed Mendelsohn. Here, his relationship with his wife, Jeannie, is much more strained due to their tragic circumstances and his therapy gets a lot of screen time.
HOLLY GIBNEY
In the book, Ralph and his right-hand man, Alec, find Holly after tracking Bill Hodges of Mr. Mercedes. Bill's left out of the show totally and Holly's actually made more of a lead character as opposed to the book where she supported Ralph. She's recommended by the Maitland lawyer, Howie, with Georgia replacing the book's Oklahoma setting. Other changes in the show include her having a fear of flying and Andy, a security guard, who becomes her boyfriend and aids her investigations.
THE CHILD KILLERS
The show focuses on Heath Hofstadter as a child killer Holly investigates only to realize he was framed by a shape-shifter. This led her to his cousin, Tracey, who became a pawn of the monster, as well as Maria, another framed murderer, and their connected stories helped Holly discover Terry Maitland was framed by a ghoul. Tracey kills himself in the show but he's a totally new character, as is Maria -- both added to give Holly a bigger arc. Instead, the novel had Ralph and Holly finding out about the creature from a fellow cop, Yunis, who knew about the supernatural.
JACK HOSKINS
In the show, Jack gets violently marked by the monster in a barn, thus becoming its pawn, but it's a gentle caress in the novel. He also gets unhinged in the show a lot faster and what's also added in for suspense is how he tries to kidnap Holly, taking her on a car ride after lying about evidence. This is done so he could get some more cred as the Grief Eater's lackey. Jack also tries to break the mental hold more in the series but in the book, he enjoys killing and wants his fellow cops dead.
THE MAITLANDS
Terry's wife Marcy is changed to Glory for TV, but the bigger alterations come regarding his death. The show has him killed at the courthouse by the brother of Frankie, the kid he was accused of maiming. He's shot by the boy and while this plays out mostly like the source material, in the show Terry makes it clear he was framed before he dies. The novel, however, has Ralph asking him for the truth, and he bleeds out, denying the crime. The book also focuses a lot on Terry's conundrum over a bulletproof vest which isn't in the show.
THE HOODED MAN
The ghoul takes the form of a hooded, disfigured man and watches this crime happen. It's so the show can differentiate itself from True Detective as a horror, but this person doesn't come in until later in the book. He also appears in the novel to Ralph's wife in what seems to be a dream, but on TV, it's a physical meeting as he tries to intimidate her into getting Ralph off the case. He also watches the Peterson dad try to hang himself in the bedroom in the show but in the book, the dad tries to do so in the yard.
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
In the show, D.A. Kenneth Hayes is left torn when the truth comes out as he realizes he failed Terry's family. Worse yet, he discovers clues that a second monster is out goring kids as well. The book takes a different approach as it doesn't use the D.A -- who's actually named Bill Samuels -- for a sequel set-up. He's just there for Ralph's team to play off of as they try to rectify their mistakes, while the show gives him a lot more air time as someone Terry's wife despises.
CLAUDE BOLTON
This arc sticks mostly to the novel where the ghoul starts turning into Claude after marking him during his bouncer job at a strip joint. What's left out in the show is the ghoul's tattooed hands which indicate he's morphing into Claude. Another change comes when Ralph's team keeps him in lockdown, as the novel has him with his wheelchair-bound mom, but the show has him with his brother, Seale. In the novel, Claude also doesn't head to the caves for the final showdown, whereas in the show he does.
THE FINALE
In the finale on TV, Claude helps Ralph and Holly corner the beast in the cave, blasting it with a gun. The cave collapses and then Ralph squashes its head with a rock after he realized it was still alive. They all have to cover up the case with Yunis, especially after Jack, who sniped Alec and Co. out, broke free and blew his brains out. In the book, it's just Holly and Ralph with the monster in the cave and she kills it by beating it with a sock filled with heavy objects. As for Jack, moments before, he was shot to death by Ralph to stop his rampage, thus paving the way for the cops to go after the monster. The biggest change comes, though, with a totally new arc when Holly's seemingly marked by the beast, setting up a sequel that isn't in the source material.
The Outsider stars Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Mare Winningham, Julianne Nicholson, Paddy Considine, Jeremy Bobb, Yul Vazquez, Marc Menchaca and Jason Bateman. It airs Sundays on HBO.