Stephen King Is Hyping Netflix’s ‘My Sad Dead’ With a Pitch Only He Could Write

Ghost stories tend to work best when they creep up on you, and ‘My Sad Dead‘ has done exactly that. Netflix’s Spanish-language supernatural series is a psychological horror project drawn from the fiction of Argentine author Mariana Enríquez, and it has received surprisingly little publicity in North America. That is about to change, since the 4-part limited series lands on the streamer on September 24.

The man steering the ship is Pablo Larraín, the Chilean filmmaker behind ‘Jackie,’ ‘Spencer’ and ‘Maria.’ He has dabbled in the macabre before, turning dictator Augusto Pinochet into a literal vampire in ‘El Conde’ as a way of digging into Chile’s political history. He also directed all 8 episodes of ‘Lisey’s Story,’ the Apple TV+ adaptation starring Julianne Moore and Clive Owen.

That last credit explains why a very famous author is now in the show’s corner. Stephen King, who scripted every episode of ‘Lisey’s Story,’ publicly endorsed the series ahead of its premiere. In a post he wrote on X on Sept. 18, King opened with a gleeful “Cool idea!” and then spun his own spooky pitch.

The author imagined a person who could hear, and sometimes see, the dead falling into a city’s water supply and decomposing. After everyone drank the water, he joked, everybody would be able to do it. He wrapped up by pointing to the September 24 date and calling Larraín an old friend of his.

The post has clearly struck a chord, pulling in more than 75,000 views and roughly 1,600 likes at the time of writing. Coming from the author of countless horror classics, the endorsement gives the Netflix horror series a serious dose of credibility with English-language audiences who might otherwise scroll past a Spanish-language import.

King’s summary is his own shorthand, of course. Netflix’s official synopsis follows Ema, a recently retired doctor who can see the dead and is trying to process her mother’s death and her own unresolved matters.

The arrival of Ema’s niece, Julie, and the murder of 3 teenagers in Piedrabuena, a suburban neighborhood marked by violence, trigger a strange phenomenon. It breaks the fragile balance between the living and the dead, and what was once Ema’s burden begins to spread through the neighborhood. Before long, no one can escape the sound of their own ghosts.

Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, Alejandra Flechner and Carolina Álvarez lead the cast. Carlos Portaluppi, Germán de Silva and Chilean actress Luz Jiménez round out the ensemble. The adaptation was written by Enríquez, Guillermo Calderón, Anastasia Ayazi and Larraín himself.

Larraín’s company Fabula produced the miniseries in collaboration with Argentina’s K&S Films, the team behind the Netflix hit ‘The Eternaut.’ Filming took place in Buenos Aires for exteriors and Santiago, Chile, for interiors. Enríquez has described adaptations as readings of her work, and she called the process calm and respectful.

The director has been upfront about what kind of scares to expect. In a statement published alongside Deadline’s exclusive trailer debut, Larraín said the terror in the show lies in “the everyday.” He described a story about a city, poverty, violence, and people and social classes that have been forgotten, filled with abandonment, death and love.

That framing fits the series’ festival pedigree. ‘My Sad Dead’ was selected for the Official Selection competition at the 74th San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it screens in a feature-length format before its Netflix release. Larraín said he was pleased to return to a festival where Spanish-language culture takes center stage.

Fabula’s résumé gives that pedigree extra weight. The production company, founded by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín, has already collected an Academy Award for ‘A Fantastic Woman’ and a Silver Bear in Berlin for ‘The Club,’ alongside Oscar nominations for ‘No’ and the biopic trilogy of ‘Jackie,’ ‘Spencer’ and ‘Maria.’

For a project that quietly slipped under the radar, this supernatural miniseries suddenly has plenty going for it. It has an acclaimed director with a real genre track record, a celebrated Argentine author’s stories, a strong regional cast and now a stamp of approval from the reigning king of horror.

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