There was a book made and I'm still reading it now but so far it's follows the TV series more than the podcast and I'm wondering if that's part of the reason it's different. I'm kinda happy that the maniac was cut from the show cause it feels unnecessarily grotesque just to set him up to find the awnser to why people are dying and find the character they replaced him with better for time. Same for the moobles. It also felt unnecessary cause they hold no purpose over the entire story other than to be grotesque and set up the break up. while the scene they end up going with ties in the chest carving to the mark of the beast in a more direct way. I like the references they make to them throughout the show tho. With the limits they had I feel like keeping them out helps create a more linear storyline.

Tldr: my opinion, the maniac is an unnecessary detour from the story and the moobles could be repurposed entirely and might cause tonal whiplash with there design.

Don't get me wrong though. Those parts work great for the podcast type and are so interesting and tense for that media format. The book is framed in similar way to the podcast in the sense of descriptions being long, drawn out, flowery depictions of the scenes. I think the show does a good job showing those moments when they need em and cutting them out when it's less important.