The cast and producers of Castle Rock descended upon New York Comic Con today to reveal the very first footage with a new trailer for this Stephen King TV series. Series creators Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason were joined by stars Sissy Spacek, Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, and Bill Skarsgard, who is coming off the massive success of anotherStephen King adaptation, the box office sensationIT. The trailer gives us our first brief look at all of these cast members, with Sissy Spacek revealing at the panel how relieved she was to enter the world of Stephen King again.
“I was afraid I might never have the opportunity to do something this twisted again. It’s kind of an homage to Stephen King, and I owe Stephen King a lot.”
Just over 40 years ago, Sissy Spacek only had a handful of credits to her name when she was cast as the title character in the very first adaptation of one of Stephen King’s novels, the iconic 1976 horror classicCarrie. Most of the other cast members have played Stephen King characters as well, withfemale lead Melanie Lynskeystarring in the TV mini-seriesRose Redand Bill Skarsgard playing the iconicPennywiseinIT. It was revealed on the NYCC panel today that Scott Glenn is playing retiredCastle Rocksheriff Alan Pangborn from Stephen King’s novelsThe Dark Half,The Sun DogandNeedful Things(who was played by Ed Harris in the 1993 movie adaptation ofNeedful Things).
No other establishedStephen King charactershave been announced, but most of the main characters are original, without any ties to previous Stephen King stories. Andre Holland is playing Henry, an attorney who represents a death row inmate played by Bill Skarsgard, although his character’s identity has yet to be confirmed. Melanie Lynskey is playing a real estate agent named Molly Strand, with the actress joking during the panel that she doesn’t know, “how many murder houses” she’s sold. Sissy Spacek’s character Ruth Deaver is the mother of Andre Holland’s character, although no further details about her character have been revealed. The cast also includes Jane Levy as Jackie and Terry O’Quinn as Dale Lacy, although no details have been revealed about their characters.
The new series is written by Shaw and Thomason, which is said to be in the “spirit” of King’s immense body of work, featuring themes, locations and even characters familiar from theStephen King universe. While the trailer only really features what looks like a number of random shots, there is a distinct Easter Egg at the end of the trailer, featuring a car marked with Shawshank State Prison sinking into a lake or a river, the same facility from the iconic Stephen King storyThe Shawshank Redemption, which was turned into the classic 1994 movie. Hulu has ordered a 10 episode first season of the on-going series, with production set to begin this year.
A psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse,Castle Rockcombines 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. The fictional Maine town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King’s literary career:Cujo,The Dark Half,ITandNeedful Things, as well as novellaThe Bodyand numerous short stories such asRita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemptionare either set there or contain references toCastle Rock.Castle Rockis 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. Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason developed the project for television and serve as executive producers along with J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson and Liz Glotzer.Castle Rockis from Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Take a look at the new trailer below, courtesy of Hulu YouTube
