If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Stephen King is an idol of horror literature, but he thinks there's one thing you shouldn't be afraid of: spoilers

The creator of Pennywise the Clown doesn't care if you know that Pennywise is defeated at the end of IT. That said, Stephen King thinks there is one horror writer whose work you should approach spoiler-free

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Mon Sep 29 2025

Popverse's top stories

Very soon, Popverse is going to be up to its eyeballs in red balloons, as we begin to cover the upcoming HBO Max series IT: Welcome to Derry. And when one of our articles contains spoilers for that show, we're going to make it pretty obvious... even though the guy that created IT in the first place seems not to care that much about the concept. Yes, Stephen King himself recently revealed his thoughts on the "spoiler" trend that's such a part of pop culture lately, and safe to say: he's not a fan.

"I am impatient with the idea of 'spoilers,'" writes King in his introduction to After Midnight: Thirteen Chilling Tales for the Dark Hours by Daphne du Maurier, recently excerpted in The Guardian, "A term that’s come into vogue along with other unpleasant side-effects of the internet in general and social media in particular. I find 'You spoiled it!' to be, typically, the cry of spoilt people. I’d argue you can rarely spoil a good story, because the joy is in the journey rather than the arrival."

To King's point, there are plenty of incredible stories that are worth reengaging even if you know exactly what their destination is. In the horror genre in particular, there are tales like The Sixth Sense, or Psycho, or Scream, all of which hold up even if you know the big reveal at the end. Hell, one of the genre's earliest entries - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - is a story most people know precisely because of the end having been spoiled.

That said, King's opinion comes with a caveat - there's at least one horror creator whose work the Shining writer does think deserves the "no spoilers" treatment: The Birds and Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier.

"Du Maurier’s stories are a notable exception to that rule," King writes, "To talk about any of them at length would destroy their effect. Suffice it to say that you are in the hands of a master storyteller. A diabolical one, at that."

To anyone looking for some works to add to their Halloween reading list, that's about as high of a recommendation as you can get, I'd say.

Just like yourself, the Popverse staff spends a whole lot of time with our respective noses in respective books. It's why we've come up with stuff like:

...and a whole lot more. Join our metaphorical library, won't you? There are no late fees and you can be as loud as you want, so long as the people you live with are OK with it.

Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news

Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.