Ryan Murphy's 88 RT% Crime Miniseries Convinced Stephen K...

Ryan Murphy's 88 RT% Crime Miniseries Convinced Stephen King To Adapt His Favorite Horror Story

Stephen King on the set of Under the Dome smiling.Image via CBS

By Samantha Graves Published Feb 16, 2026, 6:48 PM EST Samantha is a Senior Writer for Collider, with a deep admiration for the arts, a vast amount of unpopular opinions, and an ever-expanding knowledge of all things TV and Film. Unafraid to speak her mind, she can provide analysis that feels fresh and unabashed, with a hearty balance of humor. She can appreciate and respect all sides of an angle, and will happily discuss such opinions. A lover of the written word, she has a punchy taste in media that lends itself to fun and unique takes. Her bias lies in the horror genre, as she enjoys all things spooky and scary, and can talk your ear off about it. When she's not writing for Collider she can also be found as a co-host of the pop-culture podcast *Enter The Fangirls*, indulging in films featuring Jamie Lee Curtis or Winona Ryder, and working through her extensive watchlist with her cat Nala by her side. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Stephen King is one of the most well-known and acclaimed authors of all time — so much so, in fact, that he’s been deemed the King of Horror on more than one occasion. His novels have been adapted into some of the horror genre’s most influential films, such as Carrie, The Shining, and Misery. His novels are still being adapted today, whether it be for movies or television, but there was one story in particular that he held onto for years, and that’s Lisey’s Story. But the time finally came when King felt ready to adapt the novel, and it was due in part to Ryan Murphy.

What Is 'Lisey's Story' About?

Lisey’s Story was published in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2021 that the novel finally earned an adaptation — though not from a lack of interest, as King has repeatedly said that it is his personal favorite of the novels he has written, and even expressed interest in Lisey's Story being adapted into a TV series back in 2017. The story follows Lisey Landon (Julianne Moore), the widow of a novelist, who is plagued by repressed memories that connect back to her husband’s death.

King previously divulged that the idea for Lisey's Story came to him after a bad case of pneumonia sent him to the hospital. While he was there, his wife, Tabitha King, decided to redecorate his office. When he came home and saw all his books and other belongings in boxes, he had a startling vision of what his office would look like upon his death.

Mike Flanagan and Stephen King Custom Image

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Stephen King Credits Ryan Murphy as the Reason 'Lisey’s Story' Became a TV Show

Given that Lisey’s Story is King's personal favorite novel, that love made it difficult for him to agree to let anyone adapt it for the screen. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the author revealed that he was actually inspired by the second season of Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story anthology series, The Assassination of Gianni Versace:

“I saw this thing on FX that was about the fashion designer Versace and about the man who killed him. And I had not really thought about getting involved with Lisey at that point or tackling it as a TV project, but I looked at that thing, and I said to myself, my goodness, this guy, Tom Rob Smith, wrote the whole thing. He wrote all eight or nine episodes, and I thought, well, if he could do that and bring it home and do such a great job, what about Lisey? And I sat down, and I started, and I showed the scripts to Ben Stephenson at Bad Robot one by one, and he was very encouraging. So the scripts got done, and everything else followed from that.”

According to King, something else that inspired him to tackle his own small-screen adaptation of Lisey's Story was the changes introduced by streaming TV. "You have a chance to do more," he said. "You can be a little more graphic with language and with sexual situations and with length, just the chance to do something that has that kind of spread, texture, and a little more nuance. For guys like me, it's been great."

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Alongside the possibility of a longer format with multiple episodes (anyone who has read the author knows how long-winded he can be, so it's no wonder that TV held appeal), King admitted he was able to make some necessary updates to Lisey's Story, looking at the book through different eyes after 15 years, which enabled him to streamline the plot or cut characters that were unnecessary for the screen version. A Stephen King adaptation is always exciting, but Lisey’s Story was one that fans had been especially eager to see brought to life. So, thanks, Ryan Murphy (and American Crime Story), Stephen King might not have done it without you.