Castle Rock: Hulu's Stephen King Universe series

[mae]

[BountyHunter]

Is this show supposed to fit into continuity with the books?

[Bev Vincent]

Is this show supposed to fit into continuity with the books?

In a sense, as I understand it. This is Castle Rock X years after Needful Things, so stuff that happened there is fair game. Still, we don't know a LOT about the series yet.

[Bev Vincent]

Super Bowl commercial

[BountyHunter]

Well, I hope it goes with the books. Would thrill me to no end.

They need to hurry up and put this out. I'm dying over here. Lol

[Brian861]

Well, I hope it goes with the books. Would thrill me to no end.

They need to hurry up and put this out. I'm dying over here. Lol

No books to go along with if the series takes place ten years after Needful Things. Only familiar characters that still live in/around there. And the history of course.

[mae]

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2...-chosen-jacobs

A second It star has signed on for Stephen King and J.J. Abrams' upcoming series Castle Rock.

Chosen Jacobs will play Wendell Deaver in the new Hulu series, Deadline announced Thursday. Jacobs joins fellow It star Bill Skarsgård and fellow King universe dweller Sissy Spacek, who previously starred in Brian De Palma's classic 1976 adaptation of Carrie. The series takes its name from the made-up town of Castle Rock, Maine. The hamlet is mentioned in a variety of King novels and short stories.

King and Abrams announced the series with a footage-free teaser trailer in February of last year. The teaser, embedded below, referenced a variety of instantly recognizable King works. Castle Rock was crafted "from the world of Stephen King" and counts Abrams as an executive producer. Abrams' Bad Robot is also involved.

A year later, Hulu gave the series a full-blown Super Bowl spot, complete with satisfyingly King-esque footage.

Castle Rock premieres this summer.

With It, which saw Jacobs portray Mike Hanlon, director Andy Muschietti helped establish 2017 as the biggest year for the horror genre ever. It, with its $327 million domestic gross and critical acclaim, was joined by the $176 million haul of Jordan Peele's even more critically acclaimed (and Oscar-nominated) Get Out.

Thankfully, we don't have to wait much longer for It: Chapter Two. Muschietti is back in the director's chair, this time focusing on Pennywise's return 27 years after the events of the first film. The sequel arrives Sept. 6, 2019.

[mae]

[herbertwest]

New trailer
> http://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3496...tle-rock-july/
>>>

[Bev Vincent]

Release date: July 25

[Bev Vincent]

Welcome to Castle Rock: On the set of Stephen King's most terrorized town

[mae]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...etails-1118381

Castle Rock, Hulu's new anthology series set in the Stephen King universe, was the brainchild of showrunners Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason nearly a decade ago. But the frequent collaborators would never have gone forward with the show without the blessing from the horror master himself.

"Stephen was sort of for us like Charlie in Charlie's Angels," Shaw said during a panel for the series at the 2018 ATX Television Festival on Friday afternoon. Though King wasn't involved in the day-to-day matters of the show, "it was more like the crucial figure who loomed large from afar."

The pair was interested in creating a show based around a town that has "been visited by more than its share of nightmares," Shaw said. Added Thomason, "what is a town like Castle Rock like now? ... I think we were excited about coming back to this town that haunted our childhood dreams and what it would be like in the modern era."

The audience at the Austin panel was the first to see a four-minute clip from the series, which was narrated by Terry O'Quinn, before Shaw and Thomason vaguely discussed the series in a Q&A panel.

Much of the plot of the first season has been kept under wraps, and Thomason and Shaw said the series followed the top-secret protocol that most Bad Robot productions adhere to (J.J. Abrams is also an EP). But they did tell their stars whatever they wanted to know.

"There are certainly some actors who want to know everything from the beginning and there are some who don't want to know more than what their characters know," Thomason said. Lost veteran O'Quinn was happy not knowing anything. While shooting on the first day of filming, he told producers he didn't need to know much about what would happen to his character. "You work long enough on a J.J. Abrams show and you learn to work on a need-to-know basis," he told them.

They also discussed the casting of the series — which hinged deeply on Andre Holland and his character.

"One of the challenges of a genre show is you end up with characters who understand at some level that they're in a genre story," Thomason said. He and Shaw wanted "to find actors who really brought you into a world and made it feel really true and human and natural even as strange occurrences started happening around them."

Some of those actors include King vets Sissy Spacek and Bill Skarsgard — who had finished filming It and was tentative to sign on for another Stephen King-set series — and Melanie Lynskey, whose character's sister was cast in part thanks to Twitter. After Lynskey's casting was announced, fellow actor Allison Tolman reached out to her on Twitter to congratulate her, joking that she'd love to play her sister.

"But the weird thing is we knew her character had a sister," Thomason said, and he and Shaw knew immediately that she'd be the perfect person to cast in the role.

Another challenge for Shaw and Thomason was figuring out just how many Stephen King easter eggs to include in the series. "The impulse was to try to write a show that can be fun and pleasurable for somebody who has no experience reading Stephen King but also to satiate people who want to nerd out," said Shaw. "There's definitely some PhD-level deep cut [references]."

Said Thomason, "we've seen things that are so packed full with easter eggs that it becomes kind of dizzying. ...It was important to us [that the references] all had meaning."

As for a second season, Shaw and Thomason said they don't necessarily intend to follow the same characters — the new story could be set in the past or the future and follow an entirely different group of characters.

"You feel when Stephen King writes about these small towns is that there's a story behind every shuttered window...that the town is a little advent calendar of stories and disasters," said Shaw.

Added Thomason, "we like the idea of actually being able to come across characters and catch back up with what they're doing at unexpected times."

Castle Rock premieres July 25 on Hulu.

[Roland of Gilead 33]

i'm not reading through 4 pages of posts but does anyone listen to the podcast Castle rock? it's pretty good actually

[mae]

https://deadline.com/2018/06/stephen...ek-1202413675/

Castle Rock doesn’t premiere on Hulu until July 25, but San Diego Comic-Con attendees will get a lot more than a sneak peek at the psychological-horror drama. The entire opening episode of the J.J. Abrams-produced series based on Stephen King’s stories will be played for fans at the confab next month, I’ve learned.

Additionally, the home of The Handmaid’s Tale is planning a big Rock presence offscreen at SDCC.

Abrams is working on the next Star Wars movie over in the U.K., so he won’t be in Ballroom 20, but a Castle Rock panel with stars Sissy Spacek, Bill Skarsgard, Melanie Lynskey and more will be there. Although it is not 100% yet that Andre Holland will be there, that panel is where the special screening is set to take place for fans too. With all that, King himself will not be in the house in any form or fashion as of right now. Yet, there is a chance that SDCC vet Abrams might show his face via video, but that is still under discussion and a matter of scheduling, I hear.

Contacted by Deadline, Hulu had no comment on what Castle Rock has up its sleeve for Comic-Con.

However, sources say that outside the confines of the San Diego Convention Center, Castle Rock also is setting up quite the large shop. Over near the Hard Rock Café Hotel, the Sam Shaw- and Dustin Thomason-developed project will have a huge immersive “experience” for fans and the curious. While the likes of Amazon and AMC’s The Walking Dead have had similar venues in years past, the streamer aims to make this one of the biggest and baddest, in the best way.

The intention and design will encompass not just Castle Rock itself but swaths of the legacy of the iconic King too.

So be afraid, very afraid.

San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 19-22.

[CyberGhostface]

So far nothing has really interested me... it kind of reminds me of Haven in that it seems to include bit of namedropping and the SK brand recognition but little else.

I remember the initial trailer which was teasing everyone from Pennywise to Cujo to Annie Wilkes and so far the only SK character to show up is Alan Pangborn...

[Bev Vincent]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

[NoAttitudeThisTime]

I was also first under the impression that this show would be like Haven, but I've changed my mind and look forward to it.

[Merlin1958]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

Ahhh, like "Fargo" then!!!

[Bev Vincent]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

Ahhh, like "Fargo" then!!!

Yes, that's a good analogy. I was going to say American Horror Story, but Fargo is more apropos since the cast will be different from season to season, as I understand it.

[Merlin1958]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

Ahhh, like "Fargo" then!!!

Yes, that's a good analogy. I was going to say American Horror Story, but Fargo is more apropos since the cast will be different from season to season, as I understand it.

Thanks, Bev!! Would you happen to know if there are plans to release the show on DVD? I'd hate to subscribe to another service, but I'd like to watch the show.

[Bev Vincent]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

Ahhh, like "Fargo" then!!!

Yes, that's a good analogy. I was going to say American Horror Story, but Fargo is more apropos since the cast will be different from season to season, as I understand it.

Thanks, Bev!! Would you happen to know if there are plans to release the show on DVD? I'd hate to subscribe to another service, but I'd like to watch the show.

I don't know. You could always wait for all 10 episodes to land and do a 1-month free trial. Or it may end up on Amazon video like THE PATH.

[mae]

https://meaww.com/hulu-reveals-episo...es-castle-rock

Streaming giant Hulu has revealed the episodic details for its upcoming psychological horror web television series 'Castle Rock,' which will be based on the stories of acclaimed supernatural fiction author Stephen King and intertwine characters and themes from the fictional town of Castle Rock — a significant part of King's fictional Maine topography and a setting for many of his novels, novellas, and short stories since its first appearance in his 1979 novel 'The Dead Zone.'

According to an official description by Hulu, the show is 'an original story that combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland,' with details for four of the episodes revealed by the network so far.

The pilot, titled 'Severance,' has been directed by Michael Uppendahl, known for his work on AMC's 'Mad Men,' FX's horror anthology 'American Horror Story,' and Marvel's 'Legion,' and written by Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason.

André Holland (Moonlight, American Horror Story: Roanoke) portrays the protagonist, Henry Deaver, a death-row attorney who hasn't returned to his hometown since the townspeople turned on him after an accident — of which he has no memory — killed his father and left him the sole suspect. Set to premiere on July 25, a one-line explanation for the episode reads, "An anonymous phone call lures death-row attorney Henry Deaver back to his hometown of Castle Rock, Maine."

Episode 2, titled 'Habeas Corpus,' and Episode 3, 'Local Color,' will also be premiering on July 25 as well, though it is unclear who will be directing/writing the episodes. A description for the former states that "Henry gets a new client at Shawshank Prison," with the latter reading: "The past catches up with Molly Strand." Melanie Lynskey (Sweet Home Alabama, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore) has been cast as Strand, the owner of a real-estate business in Castle Rock.

According to plot for episode 4, 'The Box,' "Henry prepares for his day in court; a coffin arrives in Castle Rock," and will air on the streaming platform on August 1.

Besides Holland and Lynskey, 'Castle Rock' will also feature Scott Glenn as Alan Pangborn, the world-weary former sheriff of Castle Rock, now retired, Sissy Spacek as Ruth Deaver, Henry's adoptive mother, who struggles with dementia, Terry O'Quinn as Dale Lacy, the warden of Shawshank State Penitentiary, and Jane Levy as Jackie. Chosen Jacobs, Allison Tolman, and Noel Fisher will appear in the recurring roles.

The series will have its world premiere during the show's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on June 19, with cast members such as Sissy Spacek, Bill Skarsgard, and Melanie Lynskey all set to be in attendance.

[Jon]

There are plenty of references to events from King canon. One character lives in Frank Dodd's old house, and another goes through clippings that mention various incidents from Castle Rock's past. I've seen one other King character, although it's true that most of them are new -- it's 2018, after all. A lot of the first season centers around something that happens at Shawshank Prison. I'm four episodes in and I can't wait until I can see more of it. It's much better than Haven in many ways. It's one complete story told over 10 episodes, not a new story each episode.

Ahhh, like "Fargo" then!!!

Yes, that's a good analogy. I was going to say American Horror Story, but Fargo is more apropos since the cast will be different from season to season, as I understand it.

Thanks, Bev!! Would you happen to know if there are plans to release the show on DVD? I'd hate to subscribe to another service, but I'd like to watch the show.

Bill. You can come to my house and watch. I'm sure the price of 10 plane tickets to Indiana are worth it. Just land in Muncie Indiana, head east to Parker City. Roll down your window to listen for the sound of bleating sheep. Turn North at the "Penis Tree" and keep your window down. When you reach the condemned house (it's not my hose...yet...I'm savin' up for it,) turn left at the Big Mouth Billy Bass modified into a mailbox, wait until you smell my special Spam and Ramen noodle surprise cooking and turn into the driveway (watch out for the pit bull and the kid's bicycles. On the sidewalk, be careful of all the parts of my dirt bike)

[mae]

[mikeC]

Very Clever and cool. Abrams and his crew know how to merge the old into something new for sure.