Netflix’s ‘Widow’s Bay’ Replacement Officially Takes Over the World

Published Oct 15, 2026, 7:45 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he’ll watch anything once. He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

It’s never a bad time to be a Stephen King fan; Hollywood remains deeply indebted to him for creative inspiration, even seven decades after one of his books was first adapted into a movie. While this year hasn’t had as many King adaptations as 2025 did, his influence continues to be felt on projects he has nothing to do with. For instance, one of the most acclaimed shows of 2026 is Apple TV’s darkly humorous horror series Widow’s Bay, which ended up winning several Emmys recently. The show is heavily inspired by King’s work, and it even received a shout-out from him on social media. More recently, however, another supernatural thriller bearing King’s stamp was released to positive reviews and instant viewership success on Netflix. The new show owes a creative debt not only to King, but also to Steven Spielberg.

Incidentally, the show debuted a few weeks after Netflix’s Spielbergian thriller The Last House, and only a day after a new streaming series adaptation of King’s Carrie, on which he serves as an executive producer. Created by the longtime King collaborator (and horror icon in his own right) Mike Flanagan, the new Carrie series took the number-two spot on the global Prime Video leaderboard after its release. It opened to excellent reviews, and is now sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 85% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Mike Flanagan aptly expands this teen mythos with added compassion and ingenuity, bringing a modern touch to a timeless work and giving all performers involved the opportunity to shine while witnessing the ascension of a fascinatingly new Carrie.”

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

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