It’s a tragic reality that school shootings keep happening across the U.S. One in particular, the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school in 2018, rightfully made national headlines — especially when the young survivors then spoke out to their country’s leaders asking them to simply do better in protecting students. Years later, that particular tragedy continues to make waves in America, and that extends to Hollywood productions. MovieWeb recently spoke to the executive producers of The Institute, a dark new series now streaming on MGM+ that’s based on a Stephen King novel of the same name. The new horror series is centered on gifted teenagers who are trapped in a facility and must band together to fight back against the leaders running the titular “institute.” One of the show’s EPs, Jack Bender, opened up to MovieWeb about how his small-screen adaptation was influenced far beyond just King’s gripping novel, turning to the real-life tragedy.

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Stephen King’s Grim ‘The Institute’ Gets a Standard TV Treatment

A villainous Mary-Louise Parker steals the spotlight, though Ben Barnes’ likable presence helps boost the young cast.

“It made me think about the kids who suffered the Parkland shooting tragedy,” Bender said. “The kids who survived became this very strong political force who stood together and became unified to stand up against politicians and other adults and confront them and literally say, ‘I remember seeing this, and it really struck me. You all screwed up. Get out of our way. We know how to fix it. It’s our life, our world.’ And I went, ‘They’re right, and God bless them. We have screwed up.’ And look at the world, by the way, we’re in right now. We continue to screw up.
And so the idea once [fellow executive producer] Ben [Cavell] and I decided to partner on [The Instiute], I’m very happy to say, I talked about the phrase, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth’… And we discussed, ‘Children shall inherit the earth, but first they have to save themselves.’ And that became sort of a touchstone at the heart of our show, aside from making a really exciting, scary thriller.”

It Was “Incredibly Gratifying” to Have Stephen King’s Endorsement

MGM+

Another EP on The Institute, Benjamin Cavell, joined MovieWeb’s interview with Bender and opened up about how this latest Stephen King adaptation has the potential to soar above many of the others.
“He is an executive producer on this show, which he always has the option of doing, because when you’re Stephen King, that’s just in your contract,” Cavell said. “If you’re going to adapt to Stephen King thing, he always has the option of being an executive producer, but he only does it when he really wants to endorse the thing. And so that’s been incredibly gratifying… because obviously we want to do right by him.”
Doing right by King is also aided by starpower in The Institute, with Emmy-winner Mary-Louise Parker stealing the show as one of the eponymous facility’s overlords. “She’s like a thoroughbred who doesn’t want to be saddled,” said Bender about Parker, the pair having previously collaborated on Mr. Mercedes — another King small-screen adaptation. “You give her room to run around, she finds nuance and details and specificity in odd places that somehow are so true to that person you’re watching. And that’s a great balance for a villain.” The Institute is now streaming on MGM+.