Imagine if Ready Player One was only Steven Spielberg references (goodbye, Battletoads; hello, Gigolo Joe). That’s basically what Castle Rock is, but for Stephen King. The collaboration between the horror author and Star Wars: Episode IX director J.J. Abrams “combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works,” according to Hulu, “weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland.” In other words, the town of Castle Rock is a giant playground where (hypothetically) Cujo and Pennywise the Dancing Clown could play on the same seesaw next to a former Shawshank inmate. I hope that’s in the first episode.
The fictional Maine town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King’s literary career: Cujo, The Dark Half, IT, and Needful Things, as well as novella The Body and numerous short stories such as “Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption” are either set there or contain references to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is an original suspense/thriller — a first-of-its-kind reimagining that explores the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories.
Castle Rock — which stars Bill Skarsgård, Sissy Spacek, Allison Tolman, Scott Glenn, André Holland, Terry O’Quinn, and Jane Levy — premieres on Hulu on July 25.
