CBS’ 3-Part Sci-Fi Show Based on a Stephen King Book Is Still Worth Watching From Start to Finish

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Some of King’s most re-readable novels are his sci-fi efforts, and this explains why one of them inspired one of the author’s most underrated small-screen adaptations. 2013’s CBS series Under the Dome follows a group of small-town residents who wake up one morning to discover that the eponymous, mysterious dome has been placed over their entire town. Trapped inside with no apparent means of escape, some of the townspeople attempt to work out where the huge, indestructible see-through dome came from and how to escape it, while others use this catastrophe as a chance to seize power.

CBS’s Three-Season Sci-Fi Series Under The Dome Was A Stellar Stephen King Adaptation

Like so many of Stephen King’s best stories, Under the Dome is an ensemble piece. The original novel of the same name that the show is based on features almost a dozen main characters, and the CBS show takes an admirable stab at bringing all of them to life onscreen without cutting or condensing too many subplots. There is Mike Vogel’s Barbie, a veteran who is visiting the small town when the dome descends, and his love interest, Rachelle Lefevre’s intrepid local reporter, Julia.

Then there’s Joe, a teen whose parents are trapped outside the dome while he is stuck inside, Dorothy, a local radio engineer, Big Jim, a town councilman with a lot of sway in the community, and Natalie Martinez’s Linda, an ambitious sheriff’s deputy. This mix of strong personalities soon leads to all manner of clashes between King’s characters as they are trapped together and must try to work out a plan of action to escape the dome and free the town.

Under The Dome’s Later Seasons Couldn’t Live Up To Season 1’s Potential

While King’s later TV series It: Welcome to Derry was also a hit with reviewers in its first season, Under the Dome was sadly unable to maintain its critical success into its sophomore outing. The main reason for this was an issue that plagued a lot of shows in the wake of Lost’s historic ratings success, as the debut season set up a slew of fascinating questions and interlinked characters, only for subsequent seasons to have trouble providing meaningful answers and conclusions to the arcs of these same characters.

To put it in simple terms, Under the Dome was great at setting up its proverbial dominoes, but not so super at knocking them down in a pleasing pattern. To be fair to small-town mystery series, both earlier hits in the genre, like Twin Peaks, and later successes, like Wayward Pines and Riverdale, also struggled with second-season fatigue after offering compelling season 1 introductions to their titular settings. Still, CBS’s Under the Dome remains a fun watch for Stephen King fans despite lagging in its later outings.