The TV adaptation of Stephen King‘s Under the Dome failed to reach its true potential. A four-season mystery series, with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%, adopts a very similar story and shows how Under the Dome should have been done. The mystery thriller show in question, From, is not a direct Stephen King adaptation, but it seems to borrow many horror tropes from the King of Horror.
When From first premiered in February 2022, many viewers could not help but compare it with Lost. It featured a similar eerily supernatural setting where a group of characters is trapped. Like Lost, it even had Harold Perrineau as its lead. The more the show progressed, the more mystery-box approach also seemed reminiscent of Lost‘s storytelling style.
However, after four seasons, From has established a very distinct identity for itself. Its main narrative setup seems reminiscent of Stephen King books like Under the Dome, but it has introduced many distinct elements over time to stand out as a horror show. In hindsight, it is hard not to see how Under the Dome’s TV adaptation could have learned a thing or two from it before going off the rails with its story.
From’s Premise Is Under The Dome With Much Better Execution
Both From and Under the Dome feature a human ant farm scenario where a group of people find themselves trapped in a mysterious setting. The inexplicable nature of their setting almost makes them look like ants in an enclosed experiment, observed by unseen forces and stripped of any control over the boundaries of their world.
The setting alone makes both the original Stephen King book and the MGM+ show incredibly fascinating. In both, the primary driver of the overarching story is the characters’ quest for answers. In season 1, Under the Dome made good use of its setting to set the stage for local politics among those trapped inside the titular dome.
Even the overarching sense of existential dread that loomed over the characters felt impossible to shake in the show’s early arcs. Unfortunately, Under the Dome eventually lost sight of the mysteries that initially made it incredibly compelling. It replaced slow-burning intrigue with increasingly convoluted twists and inconsistent storytelling.
Despite having a very similar story setup and even featuring some bizarre story developments, From remains remarkably focused and gripping throughout its runtime. The show does not shy away from introducing more and more mysteries as it progresses. Some of its revelations would even sound absolutely nonsensical on paper.
However, even during some of its bizarre moments, From manages to assure viewers that it knows where it is going. Every time a new mystery is introduced in the series, a revelation, too, is dropped to ensure that audiences keep getting worthy payoffs and remain invested in the story.
From‘s primary characters also seem more human because, even though their reaction to peril is often flawed, their decisions are usually rooted in believable fear, grief, and desperation. In its four-season runtime, so far, From has also followed a strict set of internal rules when it comes to its supernatural horror elements.
Under The Dome Had Huge Potential, But Quickly Went Downhill
When Under the Dome first premiered, it was touted as one of the better television adaptations of Stephen King’s works. However, one of its biggest issues was that it tried to stretch the story from the Stephen King book a little too thin. In the original novel, the story unfolds over the span of a single week. It is the compressed timeline that gives the original story a sense of urgency.
The show, however, became a little too ambitious after its early success and tried to stretch the original story across three seasons. When it started running out of source material content, it not only significantly changed the book’s narrative but also toned down many of its scarier aspects.
Book changes are not always detrimental for TV adaptations. However, Under the Dome‘s writers started introducing absurd lore that eventually made the show lose the narrative focus and grounded tension that had defined its strongest early episodes. Perhaps with a shorter runtime and fewer book changes, the Stephen King adaptation would have come close to being as acclaimed as MGM+’s From.