Summary
- Haven weaves sci-fi, crime drama, & supernatural horror elements into a compelling mystery.
- The show creatively builds on Stephen King’s novella, The Colorado Kid, adding its unique twist.
- Haven offers a complete story arc, unique characters, & a compelling take on small-town horror.
When it comes to blending sci-fi intrigue with a touch of supernatural mystery, few series deliver as uniquely as Haven. Originally aired on the SyFy network, this hidden gem is now available on Amazon Prime, giving a new audience the chance to rediscover its charms. Loosely based on Stephen King’s novella The Colorado Kid, the show weaves a compelling narrative around the small coastal town of Haven, Maine, a place where the ordinary is anything but. The residents of this seemingly idyllic town harbor mysterious afflictions—known as “The Troubles”—that manifest in bizarre and often dangerous ways. Enter Audrey Parker, an FBI agent whose investigation into a murder draws her into Haven’s strange happenings and her own surprising connection to the town’s dark secrets.
What makes Haven stand out is its ability to merge episodic storytelling with an overarching mythology. Each episode explores a new “Trouble,” combining elements of sci-fi, crime drama, and supernatural horror. The series builds an intriguing, slow-burn mystery that keeps viewers invested as Audrey uncovers more about her own past and the town’s enigmatic history. For fans of Stephen King’s knack for eerie small-town tales or sci-fi enthusiasts looking for a show that balances heart, humor, and suspense, Haven is a worthy addition to your watchlist.
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What Is Stephen King’s The Colorado Kid?
One of the most impressive things that Haven pulls off is that the series as a whole uses The Colorado Kid as a basis for the beginning of the story and introduction of the main character, but quickly branches out and becomes its own thing. Despite that, the SyFy television series manages to embrace the horror master who wrote the original novella and it feels as though he might have written the entire series, even if he was only tangentially connected to it.
The Colorado Kid takes place in a small town and through the third-person narrative concerns the investigation of the body of an unidentified man found on a tiny island off the coast of Maine. Lacking any identification or anything resembling clues, the dead man’s case reaches nothing but repeated dead ends. Over a year later, the man is identified, but all further important questions including why he was there, and who killed him remain unanswered. The two-person staff of the island newspaper maintains a longstanding fascination with the case, and twenty-five years later, use the mysterious unsolved case to see if a young rookie reporter can find more clues and eventually solve the Stephen King-penned mystery.
Why You Should Watch Haven On Amazon Prime
That plot alone might have been good enough to pull viewers in, but because Haven was on the SyFy network, it needed to add just a little bit more. And that’s why it ended up being such a perfect homage to Stephen King. This version of the plot does follow what The Colorado Kid had to offer in that an unsolved mystery brings a young woman to the Maine town. However, instead of being a rookie newspaper writer, Audrey Parker is an FBI agent with a mysterious past who is ordered to the town only to be essentially abandoned by a boss she once considered a mentor.
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Release Date |
July 9, 2010 |
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Number of Episodes |
78 |
Parker does work with the two men who run the newspaper, though in this science fiction show, they have been documenting what are known as The Troubles over decades. These Troubles are special abilities that people in town both develop, and pass down their family line. Almost none of the powers are things that anyone can control and there are few that are positive. That’s why they’ve earned their name.
Almost none of the powers are things that anyone can control and there are few that are positive. That’s why they’ve earned their name.
Parker works with a cast of characters who have the troubles and those who don’t in order to try and figure out not just the identity of the man who still goes by the name The Colorado Kid, but also the providence of the town and why the townspeople are cursed with these Troubles.
One of the nicest things about Haven being on the Syfy Network is that it was allowed to actually end. While the first four seasons were all relatively short (especially by the standards of those years of broadcast television) but the final fifth season is a whopping 26 episodes that leads to a real end to the series.
Haven offers up a twist on the “Monster of the Week” formula that really allows fans of the Stephen King adaptation to really get to know the people who reside and are victimized by this Maine seaside town. Because this show essentially has six seasons, it doesn’t feel incomplete when it ends. And for Stephen King readers, it really does feel like this is the kind of tale that has lept off his pages. It’s legitimately a bit surprising that the famed author wasn’t tied more intimately to this fantastic science-fiction series.
Stephen King
Stephen King is one of the most prolific living authors. A master of horror, King’s classic works include The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, It, and the Dark Tower series. Many of his books and short stories have been adapted to film and television, including The Shawshank Redemption, Lisey’s Story, 1408, Secret Window, and The Stand.
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