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Carl Wilkes | |
Aliases: | The Tall Man |
Continuity: | Castle Rock |
Notability: | Minor character |
Occupation: | Writer |
Gender: | Male |
Race: | Human |
Location: | Bakersfield, California |
Relatives: | Crysilda Wilkes Rita K. Green Annie Wilkes Joy Wilkes |
Status: | Deceased |
Died: | 1995 |
First: | "The Laughing Place" |
Actor: | John Hoogenakker |
Carl Wilkes is a fictional writer and a minor character featured on the Hulu television series Castle Rock. Played by actor John Hoogenakker, he made his only true appearance in episode 2x05, "The Laughing Place".
Biography[]
Carl Wilkes was an out-of-work writer from Bakersfield, California. He was married to a woman named Crysilda and had a daughter named Annie. Carl used to have a job working at a bank, but was either fired, or had quit in order to pursue his dream of writing historical fiction. While Crysilda resented Carl for his life choices, Annie adored him, and often helped give advice on Carl's novel project, The Ravening Angel. Carl also used this time to help Annie with her reading disability.
Around the year 1994, Crysilda had hired a teacher named Rita K. Green to privately tutor seventeen-year-old Annie with her reading. Annie and she became very close. It was during this time, Carl began having a secret affair with Rita. Rita became pregnant with Carl's child, but still continued to tutor Annie. Annie did not know that the child was her half-sister.
Annie finally received her GED and went out with her mother to fill out college applications. Crysilda suffered from some form of mental instability and spoke about how she could never truly protect Annie from the "dirty" world. With Annie in the passenger seat of the family car, Crysilda drove the vehicle into a river, in an effort to kill them both. Crysilda died, but Annie managed to get to the surface.
Months passed, and Carl continued his relationship with Rita. Rita delivered her child, whom she named Evangeline. Carl invited Rita over to the house for dinner, at which point, they told Annie the truth about the baby. Annie was instantly outraged and lifted a knife in a threatening manner. Based upon the age of the infant, she knew that her father had begun his affair prior to the death of her mother.
Shortly thereafter, Carl finally completed his novel and had it published. Annie joyously read the final piece from cover to cover, until she got to the end. She saw that Carl had dedicated the book to Rita and included the phrase "My laughing Place" - a term that had previously only ever been used privately by father and daughter. Annie flew into a rage and argued with her father at the top of the staircase. Carl tried to calm her down, but Annie pushed him back. He fell against the banister, which broke from his weight. When he landed, he impaled himself on an upturned broken shaft of wood and died. Annie carried the guilt of father's death for the rest of her life.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Carl Wilkes was created by director Anne Sewitsky and writers Vince Calandra and Daria Polatin based on concepts developed by Stephen King.
- Information relating to Carl Wilkes pertains to the Castle Rock television series only. Details of his relationship to Annie Wilkes is not derived from the Misery novel or feature film.
- Carl Wilkes only made one canonical appearance in flashback on Castle Rock, though the image of the character plagued Annie Wilkes for years to come as an hallucination.
- Carl is another example of characters from Stephen King stories being writers, though King had no direct influence on the story elements of the characters from Castle Rock.
- Other writers from Stephen King stories include Ben Mears from Salem's Lot, Jack Torrance from The Shining, and Thad Beaumont from The Dark Half.
- Carl Wilkes is the first murder victim (non-canonically) of Annie Wilkes, albeit accidentally.
See also[]
External Links[]
Appearances[]
- Castle Rock: Let the River Run (As an hallucination only)
- Castle Rock: Ties That Bind (As an hallucination only)
- Castle Rock: The Laughing Place (1st actual appearance; in flashback only)
- Castle Rock: Clean (As an hallucination only)