Stephen King is one of the most prolific authors of our generation and he’s responsible for some of the most engaging stories and villains to come out of the horror genre, including one villainous group that has traversed many of his novels, “The Shop”.

Stephen King is a remarkable writer for the fact that he’s not only been able to turn out countless bestsellers and remain relevant with each passing decade, but so many of his novels and stories have been adapted into some of the most popular horror films and television series. King is most notably known for his contributions to the horror genre, but he’s a writer that has tackled all sorts of his stories. This level of creativity and innovation has also resulted in many of Stephen King’s literary works sharing connections and taking place within the same sprawling universe.

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It’s extremely satisfying for fans of King’s works to see beloved characters reappear in new contexts through other stories or pivotal locations from old stories being revisited. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series is the most notorious example of this and it ostensibly connects all of King’s works, plus King himself, into one universe. There are also a number of powerful villains that reappear in several of King’s stories because they’re just too important to be vanquished. The return of these powerful villains is always exciting and one of the best and earliest examples of it is with the mysterious group known as “The Shop”.

‘The Shop’ Is A Secret, Evil Government Agency That Appears In Many Stephen King Texts

“The Shop” is a shifty government shadow organization that has a fascination with all things paranormal, whether that touches on psychic or telekinetic powers, immortality, or the appearance of aliens. “The Shop” is basically like Stephen King’s in-universe equivalent to The X-Files. However, “The Shop” bills themselves as a helpful and trustworthy group, but they actually have nefarious aims that revolve around studying, containing, and weaponizing the supernatural activities that they encounter.

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“The Shop” appears as early as King’s novel, Firestarter, in the form of the agency that wants to contain the pyrokinetic crisis and its presence feels the most overwhelming here. That being said, they’re also keeping tabs on the events of The Lawnmower Man, The Tommyknockers, and The Langoliers (at least the miniseries version of the novel). Matters become even more interesting when the larger “failures” of the “The Shop” are looked at. Apparently the monstrous events of The Mist are the fault of “The Shop” and they’re also tasked with ending the Superflu in The Stand, which they fail at.

There’s even a made-for-TV Stephen King miniseries called Golden Years that looks at a man who is aging in reverse and specifically becomes the target of “The Shop,” with this special putting the institute front and center. It’s fair to assume that “The Shop” might also be around in other works of King’s that deal with the paranormal, like Carrie, The Institute, or even Doctor Sleep, but they haven’t officially been called out by name in a long time. Hopefully Stephen King is just waiting for the right moment to return to this creepy group.

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About The Author


Daniel Kurland
(373 Articles Published)

Daniel Kurland is a freelance writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. Daniel’s work can be read on ScreenRant, Splitsider, Bloody Disgusting, Den of Geek, and across the Internet. He recently completed work on a noir anthology graphic novel titled, “Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Noir: A Rag of Bizarre Noir and Hard Boiled Tales” and he’s currently toiling away on his first novel.

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Daniel knows that “Psycho II” is better than the original, that the finale of “How I Met Your Mother” doesn’t deserve the hate that it receives, and that Garth Ennis’ run of “Animal Man” may be the best superhero story of all time. He’s a fan of white grape juice and appreciates a good Fuji apple.

The owls are not what they seem.

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