A horror series that blends elements of Lost and Stephen King is dominating Netflix one day after being added to the streaming platform. As a massive hit that changed television and remains popular 20 years later, networks and streaming services have released many shows that tried to be the next Lost, often with a high-concept or mystery box storytelling approach. Manifest, Yellowjackets, The Leftovers, Dark, and Wayward Pines are among those that have drawn comparisons to the ABC show.
Meanwhile, King's stories are as popular as ever and continue to receive new movie and television adaptations, with some of the recent ones including Prime Video's Carrie, HBO Max's IT: Welcome to Derry, MGM+'s The Institute, The Running Man, The Long Walk, and The Life of Chuck. IT: Welcome to Derry and The Institute are both returning for a second season, the latter of which debuts on November 8. MGM+ is also home to From, a horror series reminiscent of Lost and the works of King, and it is now streaming for the first time on Netflix.
Netflix added the first three seasons of From on October 19, and just a day later, it is in fifth place on the platform's TV chart. The series is behind WWE Raw, Below, Love is Blind, and The Diplomat, all of which have released new seasons within the past couple of weeks, and is ahead of TYSON, East of Eden, Instadocs: AI Gone Wild, Hollywood Arts, and Is It Cake? Halloween. From season 4 is the show's only one not on Netflix, and a fifth and final season is in production.
The series is centered on a small town that traps all who come across it, and every night, smiling creatures come out of the woods, tormenting the residents and attempting to devour them. Harold Perrineau, who played Michael Dawson in Lost, plays Sheriff Boyd Stevens, who serves as the town's unofficial leader and tries to keep everyone alive, along with figuring out a way to escape this living nightmare.
A mystery box story about a group of characters trapped in a supernatural location, led by one of the stars of Lost, naturally gets compared to the ABC show and to King. The connections go deeper than the premise, though, as Lost's Jeff Pinker and Jack Bender are two of the key creatives of From, with both executive producing, Pinker as the showrunner, and Bender as a frequent director.
The connections to King were further amplified by the author watching the show and praising it on social media, writing that "If you're a horror fan and not watching FROM, you better get with it. Scary s***." He also called it "believable and scary as hell." Thematically, there are even more similarities between From and Lost and King's stories, with exploration of faith vs. science, redemption, trauma, the true nature of evil, and whether cycles can ever be truly broken.
All episodes of From seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Netflix.
