Warning: spoilers ahead for the sixth episode of Mr. Mercedes Season 1, called "People in the Rain." Read on at your own risk.
Stephen King is known as the master of horror for his spectacularly scary stories and gruesome plot twists that he crafted over the decades of his career as a writer. 2017 has been a pretty great year for fans of King, what with the recent release of IT, the announcement of an anthology horror series, and the fantastic new TV adaptation of Mr. Mercedes on Audience Network. Stephen King himself made a cameo in the "People in the Rain" episode of Mr. Mercedes, and his appearance made for an awesomely bloody mess. Take a look!
Okay, so Stephen King technically didn't die a gruesome death in his Mr. Mercedes cameo, but his character certainly did in Brady's fantasy sequence. While at a diner for a meeting with his boss and some of the head honchos at the company where Brady works, he was feeling quite a lot of pressure. Despite the fact that he was being praised and considered for a role as a manager, Brady was distracted by what happened right before the meeting, and it unsurprisingly had everything to do with his mother.
Deborah took a break from her boozing and her inappropriate overtures toward her son to take off in the car without giving Brady a heads up, which was quite out of character for her. Without any means of transportation of his own, Brady had to call his boss for a ride to the meeting at the diner. He began to freak out, as is his wont, and he began to fantasize about everybody in the diner being brutally murdered. Stephen King, who made his cameo as a chef in the diner, was among those who were killed.
Oh, Brady. You may be a crazypants killer whose murderous impulses are responsible for plenty of horrors, but you sure are entertaining. Stephen King turning up on Mr. Mercedes was a pretty great surprise, as he's not exactly known for turning up in his adaptations like the horror version of Stan Lee. We can probably take it as a sign that King approves of how the show is handling his novel. He's been vocal about his dislike for past adaptations that didn't go his way, such as the Stanley Kubrick version of The Shining.
That said, Stephen King has also been pretty open about adaptation twists that he likes, as he has raved about how the end of the Mist movie was changed from his story, and he hasn't minced words about how he approves of the new IT. His cameo on Mr. Mercedes likely means that it has his wholehearted seal of approval, which must be a relief to the folks behind the scenes. Mr. Mercedes has taken some notable liberties with adapting the source material.
Season 1 of Mr. Mercedes will run for ten episodes, so there are still a few left before the end. It's too early to say if the show will score a renewal for Season 2, but I'd say that the odds are pretty good. A Stephen King adaptation is a big deal for the relatively diminutive Audience Network, and the cast is star-studded. There are also a couple more books featuring certain Mr. Mercedes characters, meaning that there are more mysteries ready to be adapted.
Mr. Mercedes airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Audience Network. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule for your other options now and in the coming weeks, and swing by our list of reasons why the next chapter of IT should really be a TV miniseries.
