'The Dead Zone' Remains One of Stephen King's Most Overlooked TV Adaptations

Television adaptations of Stephen King have a mixed track record, but The Dead Zone stands out as the author’s first full-fledged TV series and one of his most underrated. After King’s own 1991 experiment Golden Years failed to become a long-running show, Michael and Shawn Piller launched The Dead Zone, which ran for six seasons on the USA Network.

Anthony Michael Hall stars as Johnny Smith, a man who awakens from a six-year coma with psychic abilities. The series departs from King's novel and David Cronenberg’s film in several notable ways: Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery) remains the looming antagonist, yet he functions more as a frenemy in a years-long cat-and-mouse dynamic—think Clark Kent and Lex Luthor in Smallville.

The show also merges and adds characters and raises emotional stakes by making Sarah’s son biologically Johnny’s. Crucially, the TV series removes the novel’s slow-growing brain tumor that motivates Johnny’s final choice.

United States

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