Castle Rock

Castle Rock is an American live-action television series of the supernatural thriller genre. It is an original concept that is based on the works of famed horror novelist Stephen King. The show was created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason and produced by J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot Productions. The series began streaming on Hulu's instant streaming video service on July 25th, 2018. The first season of the series consisted of ten episodes.

Castle Rock stars Andr Holland as Henry Deaver, Melanie Lynskey as Molly Strand, Bill Skarsgård as The Kid, Jane Levy as Jackie Torrance, Ann Cusack as Warden Poole, and Sissy Spacek as Ruth Deaver.

The premise of the show centers primarily around the character of Henry Deaver, who is a 39-year-old black man raised by white foster parents in Castle Rock. Having experienced a bizarre incident as a child, he grew up to become a capitol punishment lawyer working out of Texas. Years later, he finds himself returning to his home town when he receives a request to help out a mysterious man-child who has been found caged up in a closed off wing of Shawshank Prison. Henry discovers that his mother, who is now suffering from a mild form of dementia, is in the care of the town's retired sheriff, Alan Pangborn.

Molly Strand - a childhood friend of Henry, is an empath who experiences the emotional states of those around her and has a close psychic connection with Deaver, and undergoes great mental hardship when he returns home.

At Shawshank, the new warden has to deal with the presence of The Kid, whom the previous warden, the now deceased Dale Lacy, had kept secretly locked up for many years. Nobody knows anything about this individual, but according to some of Lacy's notes, The Kid might very well be the Devil himself.

Notes & Trivia

 * Castle Rock episodes were first made available on Wednesdays on Hulu.


 * Castle Rock was filmed in West Virginia.


 * Promotional posters for the show are designed like an old, weathered, and well-read Stephen King novel, which is how all novels should look.


 * The first three episodes of the show premiered on the same day.


 * Actors Scott Glenn and Terry O'Quinn are both guest stars on the series.


 * Executive producer J.J. Abrams is also known for producing the 2008 sci-fi/horror movie Cloverfield.


 * Actress Sissy Spacek is also known for playing the role of teen psychic Carrie White in the original 1976 film Carrie, based on the novel by Stephen King.


 * Actor Bill Skarsgård is also known for playing the role of the demonic clown Pennywise in the 2017 film version of Stephen King's It.
 * Actor Terry O'Quinn is also known for playing the role of Sheriff Joe Haller in the 1985 werewolf movie Silver Bullet. He is also known for playing John Locke on the ABC series Lost'', which was created by J.J. Abrams.


 * Actress Frances Conroy was most recently on the 2017 television adaptation of The Mist - another Stephen King project.


 * Actors Andr Holland and Frances Conroy both appeared in alternating seasons of American Horror Story.


 * Actress Jane Levy also played Mia in the 2013 remake of Evil Dead as well as Rocky in the 2016 movie Don't Breathe.


 * Ann Cusack is the sister of John Cusack who starred in the film adaptation of the Stephen King story 1408.


 * Actress Schuyler Fisk, who plays young Ruth Deaver in "Severance" is the daughter of Sissy Spacek, who plays older Ruth Deaver. Schuyler also appeared in the "Do Not Disturb" episode of Fear the Walking Dead.

Kingdom Connections
One of the conceits of the show is blending different elements from various Stephen King stories including characters, settings, and in some cases - animals.


 * The title of the show is named after the town in which the stories take place. This is Castle Rock, Maine, which first appeared in The Dead Zone in 1979.


 * Shawshank Prison first appeared in the 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, which was adapted into a movie called The Shawshank Redemption in 1994.


 * A newspaper headline speaks about a rabid dog, which is an obvious reference to everyone's favorite psycho St. Bernard, Cujo from the novel Cujo and the 1983 film of the same name. Cujo was set in Castle Rock.


 * The character of Alan Pangborn appeared in both novel and film versions of Needful Things and The Dark Half. In Needful Things, he was played by actor Ed Harris (who also appeared in Stephen King's Creepshow). In The Dark Half he was played by actor Michael Rooker. In the TV series, he is played by Scott Glenn.


 * In one episode, graffiti can be seen on the side of a building which reads "Pennywise Rules". Pennywise is the demonic clown featured in It, which was a novel that was later adapted into a TV miniseries and a feature film.


 * The character Jackie Torrance takes her name from Jack Torrance who was the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. In the movie Jack Torrance was played by Jack Nicholson. In the TV miniseries he was played by Steven Weber.