Stephen King Officially Defeats Alan Ritchson’s ‘Reacher’ in 1 Week

1 week ago 20

Stephen King on the set of Under the Dome smiling.

Published Oct 10, 2026, 10:45 AM 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 was a major week for Stephen King's fans, who got to watch not one but two new shows targeted directly at them. Only one of these new titles, however, is actually based on a King story. The other, Netflix's Below, simply borrows some of the iconic writer's narrative techniques. Starring Josh Hartnett and Mackenzie Davis, Below emerged as an instant hit on Netflix after its October 8 release. According to FlixPatrol, it's currently the streamer's number-one show worldwide. Below was released only a day after the real King adaptation, the third based on his very first novel. The seven-part limited series has announced itself as a massive hit on Prime Video, successfully taking the top spot.

According to FlixPatrol, the new show pulled off the incredible feat of defeating not only Reacher, but the Reacher spin-off Neagley. Both shows have delivered incredible results for Prime Video this year, with the fourth season of Reacher breaking viewership records for the title and Neagley having amassed more than 3 billion minutes watched in two weeks, according to the latest Nielsen report. Reacher typically retains a top-10 spot on the global Prime Video leaderboard throughout the year, and Neagley is still relatively new. For the King adaptation to unseat both action shows is quite a remarkable feat.

Mike Flanagan Has an Incredible Track Record

Image via Prime Video
Image via Prime Video

We're talking, of course, about Carrie. Spearheaded by frequent King collaborator Mike Flanagan — the director previously adapted Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck — Carrie follows in the footsteps of Brian De Palma's 1976 original and Kimberly Peirce's 2013 remake. The new show received positive reviews, and is currently sitting at a "Certified Fresh" 85% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's 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." Flanagan is also working on a long-awaited adaptation of King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower, but first, he's set to release a hotly anticipated reboot of The Exorcist franchise, titled The Exorcist: Martyrs. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.