Every Stephen King TV Show, Ranked Worst to Best

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – June 3, 2021

Originally a reluctant convert to television, best-selling horror author Stephen King has seen over two dozen projects bearing his name reach the small screen over the past 40+ years, from Salem's Lot to the just-launched Lisey's Story. While most of these have been adaptations of King's novels and stories, a few were wholly new projects written by the author directly for TV. Some have been deeply mediocre at best, but quite a few of King's TV shows have received a warm welcome from critics.

In the gallery on this page, we rank every Stephen King series from worst to best by Metascore, reflecting the critical consensus at the time of each show's debut. Miniseries are included alongside conventional TV shows, but made-for-TV movies are excluded.

7 of 26 photo by Syfy

53 Haven (Syfy, 2010-15)

Based on the novella The Colorado Kid (2005)

[#19] The second-longest-running Stephen King series—airing five seasons and 78 episodes despite lackluster reviews—Syfy's Haven is set in a small Maine town whose residents are afflicted by supernatural curses. Emily Rose plays Audrey Parker, a one-time FBI agent who is drawn to the town and joins the local police department, while Eric Balfour, Lucas Bryant, and Nicholas Campbell also star. Though the show was only very loosely based on King's book—Haven was more of a light police procedural with some sci-fi and supernatural elements, not unlike The X-Files—the series is full of references to the author's oeuvre.

“Haven succeeds at laying on the whimsy, and the dialogue is cute. But it's impossible to follow the investigation, and each discovery raises more questions--not about the supernatural, but about the holes in the script.” —Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun-Times

Where To Buy