Holly Gibney made her debut on The Outsider on HBO tonight and while Stephen King fans knew this was coming, viewers with little knowledge of the new murder mystery series might have been shocked to see her.
While Holly Gibney was played by an entirely different actress, this is the same character that appeared on the AT&T Audience series Mr. Mercedes, also based on a Stephen King novel.
Here is what you need to know.
Who is Holly Gibney?
On tonight’s episode of The Outsider, fans got to see Holly Gibney as the eclectic private investigator that most people see as a nutjob.
However, while she seems to have some serious problems, she is an eidetic genius. She can reveal all the information she has ever heard or learned, even if she hates the subject (such as rock music).
When introduced on The Outsider, Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) meets up with her to see if she will investigate the happenings in the small town where key evidence indicated that Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) was innocent of the child murders.
It appears that Holly Gibney will play a huge role in helping Ralph Anderson try to break open and solve this impossible case.
Mr. Mercedes and The Outsider
Yes, this is the same Holly Gibney that helped Bill Hodges in the AT&T Audience series Mr. Mercedes and ended up teaming with him to run the Finder’s Keepers detective agency.
Holly, in both cases, suffers from OCD, sensory processing disorder, synesthesia, and is on the spectrum. This also makes her a brilliant detective.
In the two television shows, Holly Gibney is very different in many ways and this is because showrunner Richard Price admitted that he never watched Mr. Mercedes or read the novel and just made Holly his own on The Outsider.
Cynthia Erivo (Widows) plays Holly on The Outsider while Justine Lupe (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) played the character on Mr. Mercedes.
The Outsider airs on Sunday nights on HBO at 10/9c.