In the most beautiful alignment of the stars Stephen King, the world renowned King of Horror and J.J. Abrams, mystery box lover and nerd prophet have combined forces to give us a televisual delight in the form of Castle Rock. This new show brought to us by Hulu weaves elements of many of Stephen King's most beloved works into one narrative centred around the fictional town of Castle Rock. This is a completely new story in King's expansive works of canon, not based on any one of his previous stories.
I've long been a huge fan of Stephen King, with my first "adult" book that I read being The Tommyknockers during a summer holiday in france at the age of 11. For those who are fans of King's works, I highly recommend you check out a British horror author by the name of James Herbert who sadly passed in 2013. King and Herbert were long time friends, and sadly Herbert never received the same critical acclaim that King did. To anyone who knows anything about Stephen King adaptations, they certainly used to be far more "bad" adaptations than good, however James Herbert's works almost never made good adaptations. One of his stories that was given the silver screen treatment and achieved moderate success was Fluke, although the movie version is far more family-friendly than the slightly darker book. But as per usual, I'm going off on a tangent here, so back to Castle Rock.
We're only about five episodes in so far, out of ten total, but from the very first episode I could tell this was going to be a top shelf product. As previously mentioned, it's set in the fictional maine town of Castle Rock, which will definitely sound familiar to any long-term fans of King. This is the same town that is home to Shawshank Prison, and first appeared in his works in the excellent novel The Dead Zone. Castle Rock serves as a nexus for paranormal, supernatural and metaphysical events in the vast world King has created. It's one of three fictional Maine towns that King created, with the other two consisting of Derry (from IT) and Jerusalem's Lot (from Salem's Lot), forming a trinity that often serve as central locations in King's stories.
The cinematography is beautifully gloomy, coupled with superb acting from all of the cast. There are just too many good actors in this show for me to list them all off, but I was really happy to spot so many familiar actors from other adaptations of King's works. It's got me thinking if or how this show might tie into other King properties. One character, Jackie, chose that nickname after her uncle who went crazy and tried to kill his family up at a ski lodge. I feel like there are just so many references that I've missed already, that a second viewing is definitely warranted.
As usual, I'm going to keep things spoiler free in this post, although as the season comes to a close I'd like to do a follow-up so we can discuss what we think is going on (oh it's like the days of Lost all over again). The series has received almost universal positive acclaim from both critics and viewers alike, with Stephen King fanboys like myself getting especially giddy over the possibilities of what could happen in Castle Rock. Notably, Bill Skarsgard (part of the what I'm sure is an actual real-life vampire clan) who played Pennywise in the recent remake of IT plays a main role, known only as The Kid so far. Does his role have something to do with Pennywise? There is a subtle reference to IT in the title sequence (amongst so many others), or is all of this going to tie in to the rumoured Dark Tower tv series? So far, the series hasn't acknowledged the Dark Tower (that I've noticed anyway) and to be perfectly honest, I'm happy with that. I've never read any of the Dark Tower series of books, and after the recent flop of a film starring Idris Elba, I'm not too interested in getting into them. I know King considers them his Magnum Opus, and I really do appreciate the way he has weaved this complex yet impressive story tapestry for us, but I dunno, I get the feeling the Dark Tower partially came from his coke-fueled days.
So, what do you think about this new King show? Have you already started watching it? It's sparked a renewed interested for me in Kings adaptations, so I'm hoping to do a few in depth looks at some of the more enjoyable of the bunch. Let me know your thoughts and feelings down below, and I'll see you in the comments. If you enjoyed this, make sure to give it an upvote as your support makes a massive difference. As always, make sure to follow me for the latest Technology, Internet and Pop Culture updates and if you're a fan of strange/interesting YouTube videos, you might want to follow me on Twitter.
Oh, and as a side note, I'm trying to get a new tag started; #tvdiscovery so if you write posts about shows you enjoy and others might too, then add the #tvdiscovery tag to your posts. I'll be keeping an eye on the tag for new content, so expect a helping hand if you do join. Until we meet again, take it easy!
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Sources:
Castle Rock (TV Series) on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_(TV_series))
Screenshots taken from Castle Rock (2018) on IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6548228/)
Banner Image from Fanbolt article (https://www.fanbolt.com/92315/hulu-premieres-castle-rock-trailer-j-j-abrams-stephen-king/)