8 Stephen King Shows With the Highest Rotten Tomatoes Scores, Ranked

Image via Prime Video Published Oct 7, 2026, 7:11 PM EDT Remus is a writer, editor, journalist, and author with an eye for detail and an extremely active imagination. He is an enthusiast of everything to do with the graphic medium, whether it's Western comics and their adaptations or manga and anime. Remus is also the author of the sci-fantasy novel Once Upon a Time in Hyperspace and several works of short fiction in the mystery, comedy, and horror genres. Sign in to your Collider account Between his 64 novels, 200 short stories, and five nonfiction titles, including cult classics and bestsellers, Stephen King’s stories have been rich material for American horror and thriller television. Starting with the two-part series adaptation of Salem’s Lot, TV adaptations of his stories have ushered in a new dimension to horror and thriller TV. Ranging across the dark fantasy, supernatural, gothic, post-apocalyptic, and psychological horror genres, these shows bring life to some of the scariest stories of our times. Several of these adaptations have been noted for successfully retaining the essence of their original world as created by King, while others have reinvented those universes through an alternative lens and are considered gems of their respective genres. Between popular shows, modern horror classics, and forgotten miniseries based on King’s stories, there are a handful of his most chilling adaptations that have earned the highest praise from critics, as evidenced by their scores on Rotten Tomatoes. So, without further ado, here’s our ranked selection of the Stephen King shows with the highest Rotten Tomatoes scores. 8 ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ (2025–Present) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81% Image via HBO A prequel series to the horror movies It and It Chapter Two, It: Welcome to Derry takes the audience to a time before the events of It and explores the backstory of the shapeshifting evil clown, Pennywise. Each season features a new story and characters, moving backward through the 27-year cycle of the clown’s hauntings. Developed by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, who also made both the films, Welcome to Derry stars Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, James Remar, and Stephen Rider as main characters, with Bill Skarsgård reprising his role as Pennywise. Since its premiere, It: Welcome to Derry has been widely praised as one of the best Stephen King adaptations and a top-tier horror prequel series. It is also one of the highest-rated projects of the It franchise, revisiting the terrifying experience of the films while also expanding on the myth of one of the horror genre’s most iconic villains. Despite some criticism for its plot and writing, It: Welcome to Derry is a welcome return to King’s favorite Maine town, as well as to one of Bill Skarsgård’s most critically acclaimed roles. 7 ‘Carrie’ (2026–Present) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84% Image via Prime Video In his fourth adaptation of a Stephen King novel, Mike Flanagan adapts 1974’s Carrie into a modern reimagining of the titular misfit and awkward teenager, played by Summer H. Howell. The eight-episode miniseries revolves around Carrie’s isolated life as she deals with her father’s death, her mother’s conservatism, and high school bullying, which leads to her developing mysterious telekinetic powers. Other main cast members include Samantha Sloyan, Siena Agudong, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard. One of the most highly anticipated remakes of 2026, Carrie beautifully captures the angst and psychological dread of navigating modern adolescent life without ever losing the true spirit of the original novel. Even though Brian De Palma’s film adaptation is considered the best screen translation of the book, Flanagan brings a contemporary lens to its themes and narrative, making it as timely as ever. Since its premiere, Carrie has garnered widespread acclaim for its nuanced take on complex emotions like fear, anger, and compassion, particularly within the context of our contemporary times. 6 ‘Storm of the Century’ (1999) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85% Image via ABC An ABC horror miniseries directed by Craig R. Baxley, Storm of the Century is based on the first original story Stephen King wrote directly as a television screenplay rather than adapting a previously published novel or short story, though it was later published as a book. The story centers on a small island community off the coast of Maine, who are cut off from the mainland due to a blizzard and are terrorized by the arrival of an ominous stranger who seems to know all their darkest secrets. The series stars Tim Daly, Debrah Farentino, Casey Siemaszko, and Colm Feore. Often considered one of the greatest horror miniseries ever made, Storm of the Century succeeds in retaining the original vision and essence of the book. Comparable to stories like The Shining or Needful Things, the three-part series became a major influence on horror television, particularly within Stephen King's catalog and the late 1990s horror landscape. During its run, Storm of the Century earned critical acclaim for its performances and complex narrative. Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one. 🏕️Jason 🔪Michael 💤Freddy 🎈Pennywise 🪆Chucky TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty. ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply. ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours? APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it. AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late. NEXT QUESTION → 05 You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't. AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not. AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it. AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force. NEXT QUESTION → 08 It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours? AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it. REVEAL MY VILLAIN → Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck. Jason VoorheesJason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit. He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues. Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge. The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance. You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected. Michael MyersMichael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention. But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound. Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is. Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had. You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it. Freddy KruegerFreddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised. You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away. The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it. Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on. Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here. PennywisePennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it. The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly. You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away. That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare. It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all. ChuckyChucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is. You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance. Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone. Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing. Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 ‘Creepshow’ (2019–2023) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85% Image via Shudder A horror anthology series developed by Greg Nicotero, Creepshow is a continuation of the 1982 film of the same name, directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. Featuring two horror stories in each episode, the series follows various dark and grim tales involving ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. Unlike the film, the series is directed by various directors, one for every story, including Nicotero, and stars a diverse cast every season, featuring the likes of Giancarlo Esposito, Tobin Bell, Tricia Helfer, Keith David, and Ali Larter in notable performances. Creepy and dark, yet thoroughly enjoyable, Creepshow finds the right balance between capturing the essence of the source material and adding its own unique flair to it. With its campy, colorful, and practical-effects-heavy style matching the '80s original, the series finds its core audience among fans of dark comedy horror stories. Often compared to Tales from the Crypt in its tone and format, Creepshow is fun and spooky and ranks among the best horror shows of the last decade. 4 ‘Salem’s Lot’ (1979) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87% Image via CBS Following the success of Carrie and its film adaptation, Stephen King’s second novel, Salem’s Lot, was adapted into a two-part television event directed by Tobe Hooper and adapted by Paul Monash. The story follows writer Ben Mears, who returns to his titular hometown and discovers that the people there are turning into vampires, so he assembles a group of uninfected locals to fight the evil forces and save his town. David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, and Lew Ayres play the main characters. The first-ever TV adaptation of a Stephen King book, Salem’s Lot received positive reviews and garnered a cult following in later years. During its run, the horror miniseries was critically praised for its atmosphere, cinematography, direction, and slow-burn dread, terrifying the audience without unnecessary jump scares. Ever since, Salem’s Lot has had a major impact on the vampire genre, inspiring modern genre classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 3 ‘Castle Rock’ (2018–2019) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88% Image via Hulu A chilling supernatural horror anthology series created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason, Castle Rock is one of those rare Stephen King shows that is not directly adapted from any of King’s books. Instead, it takes characters, motifs, and its title from various novels, novellas, and short stories and presents two different stories in each season, involving a diverse set of characters, all of whom are connected by the gloomy and mysterious town of Castle Rock. Bill Skarsgård, André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Lizzy Caplan, and Tim Robbins star in notable roles across the two seasons. Castle Rock is a highly underappreciated horror anthology that was quickly forgotten after its two-season run. The show expertly extracts and borrows from Stephen King’s horror universe and successfully builds a unique yet familiar world of its own. Full of creepy characters and uncanny events, each season of Castle Rock is as enjoyable as it is unsettling. 2 ‘Mr. Mercedes’ (2017–2019) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91% Image via Audience Developed by David E. Kelley, Mr. Mercedes is an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel trilogy featuring retired detective Bill Hodges and is named after the first book in the series. Starring Brendan Gleeson as Bill Hodges, the story follows the titular unsolved case involving a mass murder that haunts Bill, while he simultaneously becomes the target of a young psychopath named Brady Hartsfield, with deadly consequences. Holland Taylor, Justine Lupe, Jharrel Jerome, and Breeda Wool play main roles in all three seasons. Creepy and tense, Mr. Mercedes is quite faithful to the original books but eventually diverts into its own direction in the later chapters, expanding the original setting and deepening the arcs to include new angles. Brendan Gleeson earned widespread praise for anchoring the narrative as the gritty, weary, yet obsessive retired detective. Mr. Mercedes is not among the popular adaptations of King’s works, but is well-regarded as a grounded, non-supernatural crime thriller that can thrill mystery and horror fans alike. 1 ‘The Outsider’ (2020) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91% Image via HBO Developed by Richard Price as a series adaptation of the novel, The Outsider centers on the murder of a young boy in a suburban Georgia town, whose baseball coach, Terry Maitland, is considered the prime suspect. When local detective Ralph Anderson starts investigating, he finds himself stuck with cryptic clues and mismatched pieces of evidence, and consults eccentric private investigator Holly Gibney. The ensemble cast stars Jason Bateman, Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, and Julianne Nicholson as key characters. Part supernatural horror, part murder mystery, and part psychological drama, The Outsider is dark, chilling, and relentlessly grim, but also very engaging. Anchored by excellent acting by Bateman, Mendelsohn, and Erivo, the deliberate tension keeps the audience completely hooked until the last minute. During its 10-episode run, The Outsider became a critics’ favorite, earning praise for its production values, faithfulness to the original novel, and Cynthia Erivo’s ability to bring a distinctly new dimension to the character of Holly Gibney. Release Date 2020 - 2020-00-00 Seasons 1 Creator(s) Richard Price