Castle Rock is an anthology web series that is inspired by characters, settings and themes from Stephen King’s stories! It is currently in its second season.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this series!
- Castle Rock is an American psychological horror anthology web television series
- Featuring and inspired by characters, settings, and themes from the stories of Stephen King and his fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine
- The series premiered on July 25, 2018 on Hulu
- It was created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason
- And stars André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy, and Sissy Spacek in its first season
- On August 14, 2018, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season
- Which premiered on October 23, 2019
- Castle Rock 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”
- On February 17, 2017, it was announced that Hulu, J. J. Abrams, and Stephen King were collaborating on a new series entitled Castle Rock
- Based on King’s large canon of work
- It was further reported that the series would be written by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason
- Produced by Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions
- And distributed by Warner Bros. Television
- Four days later, Hulu revealed that they had given the production a series order consisting of a first season of ten episodes
- And executive producers would include Abrams, King, Shaw, Thomason, Ben Stephenson, and Liz Glotzer
- On July 12, 2017, it was announced that Michael Uppendahl was joining the production as a co-executive producer
- Also, he would direct the pilot episode
- On August 14, 2018, it was announced that Hulu had renewed the series for a second season
- The second season premiered on October 23, 2019
- On May 11, 2017, it was announced that André Holland had been cast in the series’ lead role
- In June 2017, Jane Levy, Sissy Spacek, and Melanie Lynskey had joined the main cast
- On July 10, 2017, Bill Skarsgård was set to join the roster
- In August 2017, it was reported that Scott Glenn and Terry O’Quinn had been added as series regulars
- On March 1, 2018, it was announced that Chosen Jacobs had joined in the recurring role of Wendell Deaver, the son of Holland’s character
- On June 8, 2018, it was announced during the annual ATX Television Festival that Allison Tolman will have the recurring role of Lynsky’s character’s sister
- Five days later, it was reported that Noel Fisher was also on board
- In March 2019, it was announced that the season 2 cast would feature Lizzy Caplan, Tim Robbins, Garrett Hedlund, Elsie Fisher, Yusra Warsama, Barkhad Abdi and Matthew Alan in lead roles
- Hedlund’s role was later recast with Paul Sparks
- On April 17, 2019, it was reported that John Hoogenakker had been cast in an undisclosed recurring role for season 2
- Principal photography for the first season was expected to take place in Massachusetts
- In locations such as Orange, Massachusetts, and at New England Studios in Devens, Massachusetts
- In August 2017, production began in Devens and in Orange
- There the downtown area had been refitted to appear as the town of Castle Rock
- And where production was expected to continue through January 2018
- That month, crews also shot scenes at Vernon Hill School in Worcester, Massachusetts
- And at an old Victorian house in Lancaster, Massachusetts
- Filming returned to Orange during the week of August 21 for production of the series’ second episode
- In late September 2017, filming took place in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, at The Public Health Museum on the campus of the Tewksbury State Hospital
- In October 2017, filming took place at the Central Cemetery in Orange where a funeral scene was shot
- The downtown area was refitted with a more modern look in November for another phase of production
- From September 4, 2017 until the end of the month, production took place at the former West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia
- Which appeared as the fictional Shawshank State Prison
- On November 21, 2017, filming took place in Worcester in the lobby of the Mercantile Building, which had been refitted into a boardroom
- On December 18, 2017, production for the season finale began
- By January, all filming in Orange was completed
- The production proceeded to donate $3,500 dollars to the town
- The Fire Department received $2,500 for helping facilitate production
- The Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorial will receive another $1,000
- Visual effects were used to alter seasons
- Including adding snow to scenes in which there was no snow on location
- As well as to create a forest fire in episode five
- In 2019, it was reported that filming for second season would take place at additional Massachusetts locations
- Including a former meat factory building in Clinton
- And several properties in Gardner
- The song “Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa” is used three times during the first season
- Including the first song heard in the premiere (Gene Pitney’s 1963 version)
- And the last song heard over the closing credits of the finale (Dusty Springfield’s 1964 version)
- It captures the underlying situation of The Kid in the lyrics: “Dearest darling, I had to write to say that I won’t be home anymore / ’Cause something happened to me while I was driving home / And I’m not the same anymore”
- Simultaneously with the series announcement, Hulu released the first teaser trailer for the series
- The teaser trailer mentions titles of and characters from a number of Stephen King novels, short stories, and collections
- These include It, Dolores Claiborne, Needful Things, ‘Salem’s Lot, Dreamcatcher, Night Shift, The Green Mile, Misery, Hearts in Atlantis, The Shining, “The Mangler”, Four past Midnight, Different Seasons, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, The Dark Half, and “The Night Flier”
- On October 8, 2017, a second teaser trailer was unveiled at the annual New York Comic Con and subsequently released online
- On February 1, 2018, a thirty-second television commercial for the series was released online
- Eventually aired three days later, during Super Bowl LII
- Hulu reportedly paid $5 million to air the advertisement during the football game
- On May 2, 2018, a third teaser trailer was released, alongside the announcement of the show’s premiere date of July 25, 2018
- On July 10, 2018, the first full trailer for the series was released
- The first season has been met with a generally positive response from critics
- On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 86%
- Based on 70 reviews
- With an average rating of 7.57/10
- The website’s critical consensus reads, “A meticulously crafted mystery brimming with allusions, Castle Rock is bound to please even the pickiest of Stephen King fans — though mileage may vary for casual viewers”
- Metacritic assigned the series a weighted average score of 66 out of 100
- Based on 35 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
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