The Stephen King adaptation of The Outsider premieres tonight on HBO and the star is Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Det. Ralph Anderson.
The series follows the case of a murdered and mutilated child found in the woods. All the evidence in the case points to one man — a little league baseball coach named Terry Maitland, played by Jason Bateman, who also directed the first two episodes of the series.
For Stephen King fans, the Ralph Anderson in The Outsider is not the same as the Ralph Anderson in Storm of the Century, but there is one former character from King’s world of novels that will pop up down the line in The Outsider (just wait and see).
Here is what you need to know about Ralph Anderson.
Who is Ralph Anderson in The Outsider?
Ralph Anderson is a police detective in a small town that leads the case to find the murderer of a young boy.
This case is important to him, as he also lost his young son, albeit to cancer, years before. It also hits home because the accused, Terry Maitland, was the little league baseball coach for his late son’s team.
All evidence points to Terry, including witnesses, fingerprints, and video evidence. However, there is also video and fingerprint evidence that shows Terry was nowhere near the murder scene on the day of the killings.
While the case is closed, Terry can’t let go and sets out to figure out how Terry could be innocent of a murder that all evidence points to him being guilty. This series is his story, as he seeks out the truth.
Who is Ben Mendelsohn in The Outsider?
Ben Mendelsohn is a very familiar actor and most people will remember him from the Steven Spielberg movie Ready Player One. He was the villain, Nolan, who wanted to control the OASIS.
However, television fans will recognize him from his role on the shows Bloodline. He portrayed Danny Rayburn and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the role.
Add in roles in popular movies like Captain Marvel (he was the Skrull Talos), 2018’s Robin Hood as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Director Orson Krennic, and he is someone everyone will recognize from somewhere.
The Outsider airs on Sunday nights on HBO at 10/9c.