As millions of eagle-eyed subscribers over on Netflix continue to binge through all seven episodes of drama series Baby Reindeer, it’s now become clear that legendary novelist Stephen King is just as much of a fan.
In fact, the normally-spooky specialist is so engaged in the fresh-faced series that he’s become extremely vocal about the hit show — especially in a recent op-ed for The Times. In his analysis, the 76-year-old author, who is certainly no stranger to expressing his admiration for particular shows, stated that he’s definitely glad that he wrote and released his 1987 novel Misery long before Baby Reindeer was released on Netflix.
His reasoning for such a significant statement? Well, King claims that people would likely think that he stole the idea of a crazed stalker narrative and created Misery after borrowing heavy inspiration from Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd. That’s certainly not the case, of course, with both King’s novel and the film adaptation releasing decades before the new streaming success — but it’s definitely a credit to Gadd’s writing that King holds the show in such a high regard.
In the seven-episode project, Gadd stars as Donny Dunn, a fictionalized version of himself, who eventually encounters Martha Scott, an unhinged stalker. Much like the pulse-pounding dynamic between Donny and Martha, King brilliantly depicted a similar encounter in Misery between Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes.
And while both projects unequivocally handle these encounters in different ways, there’s absolutely no denying how much King admires the similarities between both narratives — so much so that he has openly admitted that he’s been “sucked in” to the plot points happening in Baby Reindeer. And who wouldn’t absolutely adore a shining complement from Stephen King?
