Stephen King: Storm of the Century was his crowning television achievement

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

With a new mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic novel The Stand airing on CBS All Access, The New York Times recently got in contact with the author to discuss some of the earlier shows and mini-series that were based on his work. Many of King's opinions fall in line with how the projects are generally perceived: he liked It, didn't like The Tommyknockers, and stopped watching Under the Dome when it "descended into complete mediocrity". Some of his opinions are different from the general consensus: he prefers the mini-series version of The Shining over the film. And his pick for his favorite of the bunch may surprise you.

While I would have gone with the 1994 mini-series version of The Stand as the best King TV project, King himself chose the 1999 mini-series Storm of the Century (buy it HERE).

Storm of the Century was not an adaptation of a King novel or story, but something King wrote specifically for television. The screenplay was then published to coincide with the airing of the three-part series, and you can pick up a copy at THIS LINK. Directed by Craig R. Baxley, Storm of the Century has the following synopsis:

They're calling it the Storm of the Century, and it’s coming hard. The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor'easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and up to five feet of snow, it's bringing something worse. Something even the islanders have never seen before. Something no one wants to see.

Just as the first flakes begin to fall, Martha Clarendon, one of Little Tall Island's oldest residents, suffers an unspeakably violent death. While her blood dries, Andre Linoge, the man responsible, sits calmly in Martha's easy chair holding his cane topped with a silver wolf's head… waiting.

Linoge knows the townsfolk will come to arrest him. He will let them. For he has come to the island for one reason. And when he meets Constable Mike Anderson, his beautiful wife and child, and the rest of Little Tall's tight-knit community, this stranger will make one simple proposition to them all:

"If you give me what I want, I'll go away."

The mini-series stars Tim Daly, Colm Feore, Debrah Farentino, Casey Siemaszko, and Jeffrey DeMunn.

King told The New York Times that Storm of the Century was his crowning television achievement, his 

absolute favorite of all of them. I loved Colm Feore as Linoge, and I loved the story. They filmed it in Southwest Harbor in Maine in the wintertime and they got the snow, so you get the sense of this awesome blizzard and the people trapped in it. They did a terrific job."

Storm of the Century wouldn't have been my pick for the best of the bunch, but I would rank it up there quite highly. It is an interesting, emotionally involving story that was told very well.