Stephen King Meets Shirley Jackson In Netflix’s Greatest 10-Part Horror Show

Published Sep 8, 2026, 1:00 AM EDT Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns. Before Screen Rant, he was a Senior Writer for The Cinemaholic, covering everything from anime to television, from reality TV to movies. After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Stephen King and Shirley Jackson are two of the most influential authors in the horror genre. Interestingly, one of the greatest horror shows of all time, which is streaming on Netflix, draws from the works of both authors. The show in question not only modernizes the story of Shirley Jackson's best novel but also merges it with some well-known horror tropes from Stephen King's books. Adapted from Shirley Jackson's book of the same name, Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House almost marked the inception of a new era for modern horror. In streaming, especially on Netflix, horror was seemingly struggling to find its feet as a genre. This is when Mike Flanagan came along and delivered an incredibly poignant and deeply terrifying take on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. In the years that followed, Flanagan's small-screen horror legacy only grew from strength to strength. However, even after all these years, The Haunting of Hill House arguably remains his best TV adaptation. Like most of Mike Flanagan's works, even the show has subtle traces of Stephen King's influence and even its source material's literary legacy shares many overlaps with the King of Horror's stories. Mike Flanagan Draws From Stephen King While Adapting Shirley Jackson’s Haunting Of Hill House Mike Flanagan does not shy away from paying homage to Shirley Jackson's literary brilliance from the show's opening scene itself. Like the book, even the series begins with Jackson's iconic opening passage about the supernatural yet deeply human terrors of Hill House: “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within..." With what follows, the show completely modernizes the original book's setting and character beats while heavily drawing from Stephen King's stories. Like IT, Flanagan's The Haunting Hill House follows dual timelines that highlight how childhood traumas affect adult characters as they come to terms with their past. One of the main characters is even named Steven and portrayed as a famous horror author, reminding one of King's troubled, cynical author archetype from The Shining and Misery. Speaking of The Shining, The Haunting of Hill House also makes a whole character out of its central haunted house, reminding one of the Overlook Hotel. Like the Overlook Hotel corrupts Jack Torrance, Hill House transforms Olivia Crain from a loving parent into a threat to her own children. There is also a "Red Room" in The Haunting of Hill House, which shapeshifts to give each family member whatever they desire. It serves as a direct reference to "REDRUM" from The Shining. Even Eleanor and Theodora's implicit telekinetic/psychic sensitivity in Hill House heavily mirrors Danny's "The Shining." Interestingly, Stephen King Draws A Direct Reference To The Haunting Of Hill House In The Shining Like Mike Flanagan, Stephen King, too, does not shy away from drawing direct homages to his biggest influences. Owing to this, he even makes a direct reference to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House in The Shining: "There was a little boy to terrorize, a man and a woman to set one against the other, and if it played its cards right they could end up fitting through the Overlook's hall like insubstantial shades in a Shirley Jackson novel, whatever walked in Hill House walked alone, but you couldn't be alone in the Overlook, oh no, there would be plenty of company here." This is not the only time Stephen King paid tribute to Shirley Jackson. Even one of his most adapted books, Firestarter, begins with a dedication to Jackson: "In Memory of Shirley Jackson, who never needed to raise her voice." Considering all these cross-influences, it seems fair to say that Mike Flanagan's Netflix show, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and Stephen King's The Shining almost exist in a historical horror loop. Loosely based on Shirley Jackson's novel of the same name, The Haunting of Hill House follows the Crain family's experience in their beautiful (and deadly) home. With a story told using two timelines simultaneously, The Haunting of Hill House chronicles both the haunting itself, and the lasting effect it had on the Crain children as they struggle through adulthood decades later. Network Netflix Cast Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Kate Siegel, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Pedretti, Timothy Hutton, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Polly Craig, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Christine Horn, Samantha Sloyan, J.P. Valenti, Katie Parker, Katie Carpenter, Mimi Gould, Fedor Steer, Paxton Singleton, Justin James Boykin, Jordane Christie, Tiffany Denise Hobbs, Wes Jetton, Lulu Wilson, Mckenna Grace, Julian Hilliard Showrunner Mike Flanagan Directors Mike Flanagan Writers Rebecca Klingel Main Genre Horror Creator(s) Mike Flanagan Executive Producer(s) Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Meredith Averill, Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy Producers Dan Kaplow Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Netflix