Hulu has given a 10-episode order to Castle Rock, a psychological horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse.
Executive produced by King, J.J. Abrams (Lost), and showrunners Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason (Manhattan), Castle Rock centers on the eponymous town in Maine, which has been the setting or been referenced in the likes of Cujo, IT, and The Shawshank Redemption, and is said to explore the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories.
King’s work has been primarily adapted in television using the miniseries form, with Hulu’s 11.22.63, A&E’s Bag of Bones, and ABC’s Rose Red among the interpretations that’ve been produced over the years. In terms of ongoing series, King has seen the likes of Under the Dome, The Dead Zone, and Haven have respectable runs, while The Mist, Mr. Mercedes, and The Dark Tower are all currently in development.
Judging from the logline and the teaser below, the closest analogs to Castle Rock might be Penny Dreadful and Once Upon a Time, two series that brought together characters who wouldn’t normally share the screen together. Whereas the former grouped together signature characters from gothic literature in a Victorian London setting, making it more a tonal match with Castle Rock than structural, the latter placed characters from different Disney productions in the same small Northeastern town before allowing them to figure out who each other actually is. It’s unclear what the unifying element in Castle Rock might be, how they might narratively explain all these characters being together, but there is at least precedent for shows of its ilk working.
Castle Rock joins an original drama slate on Hulu that includes The Path, Chance, and Shut Eye. You can check out the first teaser trailer for the series, which begins production this year, below.
Will you be watching Castle Rock? How do you think a show with this type of premise will turn out? What other types of dramas would you like to see from Hulu in the future?
