While Stephen King is brilliant at crafting scary stories and his novels are beloved by so many people, fans often get nervous when a new adaptation comes out. Will it follow the source material in a smart way and make fans happy? Or will it change so many things that it doesn't even resemble the original story?
Stephen King's novel Under The Dome was published in 2009 and in 2013, the TV adaptation premiered on CBS. But while fans had high hopes for this TV series, and it promised to be a thrilling and cool show, the kind that fans could really get into and talk about together, it didn't work very well. There are many reasons why Under The Dome could be considered the worst Stephen King TV adaptation.
While there is a bad Netflix adaptation of a Stephen King story, what about any TV shows based on his work? Many fans would consider the TV version of Under The Dome to be problematic. Under The Dome is a great idea for a book/movie/TV show. People living in Chester's Mill find themselves staring at a huge dome that means that they have zero contact with the outside world. Suddenly everything about regular life has changed as now it's impossible to leave town, get supplies (including food), and generally return to their normal existences.
The show had three seasons from 2013 to 2015, and Stephen King himself doesn't like the Under The Dome show. According to The A.V. Club, King said, “[I]t went off the rails [and] descended into complete mediocrity [...] It was a sad thing, but it didn’t bother me. I stopped watching after a while because I just didn’t give a [expletive].” It's disappointing because the plot itself and the setting are both great and it's no wonder that they work so well in the book. But while the novel is impossible to put down, just like King's other novels, the show isn't beloved.
If comparing Misery and The Shining, it's fair to argue that Misery has incredible characters. The characters don't really land on the show, except for Angie McAlister's main storyline (Britt Robertson), as she wants to move away from her small town and experience life outside. Angie doesn't appear in the book that much and it's a good idea to give her more to do and more screen time on the TV show. It's hard to say that other characters are that interesting, though. And since viewers don't become that interested in the main characters, that makes it tough to feel scared by what's going on.
It's also possible to look back on Under The Dome and think that the concept doesn't really work for a TV show anymore. After watching a Netflix TV drama like The Society, where teens are living in a strange reality where they have to fend for themselves without any adults, or the brilliant horror movie A Quiet Place where people have to live without making a sound, is it really that compelling to watch people trapped in a small town? There are plenty of other films and TV shows that have a similar story.
Stephen King is known for his brilliant ideas and relatable writing style, and fans love so many of his books. But the TV adaptation of Under The Dome could be considered the worst TV show based on his books. In season 3, the characters learn that The Kinship created an alternate reality in the "cocoon" of the dome and they are trying to control everyone. This should be scary, and while the novel is amazing, interesting, and every other positive adjective that people use to describe Stephen King stories, it falls flat on the show.
Many fans feel that Under The Dome is one of Stephen King's best books and Stephen King wrote on his website that he thinks that the showrunner and writers had to make sure that the show was different from the novel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, King wrote, “Many of the changes wrought by Brian K. Vaughan and his team of writers have been of necessity, and I approved of them wholeheartedly. Some have been occasioned by their plan to keep the Dome in place over Chester’s Mill for months instead of little more than a week, as is the case in the book. Other story modifications are slotting into place because the writers have completely re-imagined the source of the Dome.”
King also said "if you loved the book when you first read it, it’s still there for your perusal," which is a great reminder that even though Under The Dome isn't the greatest Stephen King adaptation, the original story is still brilliant and exciting.