‘Castle Rock’: 8 Stephen King Stories We Want to See in the New Hulu Series
Why adapt just one Stephen King story when you can adapt a dozen or more? That seems to be the working theory behind Castle Rock, the recently announced Hulu series that re-teams J.J. Abrams — who oversaw the streaming service’s well-received adaptation of 11.22.63 — with America’s best-loved boogeyman. This being a Bad Robot production, most of the details about Castle Rock remain locked in a mystery box, but what we do know is that the 10-episode first season will thread together multiple characters and storylines from King’s expansive bibliography, and funnel them through the titular Maine town that has been at the epicenter of some of his best-known works from “The Body” to The Dead Zone.
A short teaser trailer that premiered in February referenced such Maine-based books as Needful Things and IT, as well as characters who technically live outside of the author’s home state, including Misery‘s Annie Wilkes and The Shining‘s Danny Torrance. (Other works cited in the teaser are: Salem’s Lot, The Green Mile, Hearts in Atlantis, and Dolores Claiborne.) That’s a promising lineup already, but we’ve combed through our own stacks of King novels and short story collections and found eight Castle Rock or Castle Rock-adjacent works we want to see become part of Castle Rock.
“Jerusalem’s Lot”
It’s as yet unclear how far back in history Castle Rock will extend, but King’s works contain enough material for centuries’ worth of stories. Case in point: The opening story in his 1978 anthology Night Shift is a 19th century prequel to the events of Salem’s Lot, King’s 1975 humans versus vampires novel that became a blockbuster two-part TV movie four years later. “Jerusalem’s Lot” rewinds the clock to 1850 and details how aristocrat Charles Boone comes to discover that his ancestral home of Chapelwaite has bloodsuckers living in the walls. Essentially King’s ode to Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, right down to its epistolary construction, the story could function as a prologue to the series or a midseason flashback episode.
Fair Extension
Castle Rock has Leland Grant — who’s curiosity shop, Needful Things, is filled with magical (and dangerous) tchotchkes — and Derry has George Elvid, who peddles life extensions… for an unusually high price. Unscramble his last name, and you’ll understand the seductive nature of this Devil’s bargain: Customers are able to purchase more years of life if they promise to tithe a certain percentage of their income and transfer their own woes onto a bitter enemy. Rapidly approaching death’s door, Dave Streeter purchases this plan and picks his supposed best friend, Tim Goodhugh, as the recipient of his bad luck. Published in King’s 2010 collection, Full Dark, No Stars, Fair Extension is a chilling morality play about what happens when affection for a pal curdles into envy. If Elvid decided to take a business trip to Castle Rock, he’d almost certainly find a willing customer.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
It’s easy — too easy — to get lost in Maine’s dense woods, as young Red Sox fan, Trisha McFarland, discovers in King’s 1999 survival story. Wandering away from the path in favor of a too-challenging shortcut, the nine-year-old is stranded in the middle of nowhere armed with only her Walkman and a dwindling supply of rations. Meanwhile, the state police based out of Castle Rock mobilize to search the surrounding area, but in the end it’s Trisha’s guiding god, Red Sox pitcher Tom Gordon, who helps lead her back to civilization. It would be great to catch up with an older Trisha in Castle Rock — we picture her as a National Parks ranger — if for no other reason than to find out how she celebrated the Red Sox’s two World Series wins.
The Running Man
We’re technically still eight years away from the reality show-dominated dystopia King imagined in his 2025-set story, originally published in 1982 under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. But considering real world headlines — not to mention TV schedules — that future bears some uncomfortable similarities to the present. (Also worth noting: The more satirical Arnold Schwarzenegger film adaptation takes place in 2017.) In the book, current “Running Man” Richard Bradley passes through Derry on his desperate race to stay alive while bounty hunters chase him down for the delight of millions at home. This pursuit could potentially be repeated in Castle Rock with Bradley playing a fugitive from justice rather than a reality show contestant. Or maybe he’s part of some intense new physical competition event: Think an Escape Room crossed with Tough Mudder.
“The Crate”
A toothy critter from the Arctic wreaks havoc on the campus of Horlicks University in King’s 1979 short story, which later became one of five segments in the ’80s horror classic, Creepshow. Never given a specific location, Horlicks could easily be designated as the college of choice for Castle Rock and its surrounding county. There’s another great reason to retain this storied institution for the series: An Easter Egg from Season 5 of The Walking Dead reveals a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shout-out to Horlicks. You know what that means… zombie apocalypse crossover!
A Good Marriage
King’s 2010 novella about a housewife who orchestrates the death of her husband of 27 years after discovering that he’s a serial killer gifts us with one of his best supporting characters: Holt Ramsey, an aged cop who turns up on the woman’s doorstep after she assumed she’d gotten away with the crime. But he’s not there to arrest her — he wants to congratulate her for ridding that particular evil from the world. It’s a part that’s just crying out for the folksy charm of Jeff Bridges, who played a not dissimilar lawman in the recent Best Picture nominee, Hell or High Water. (For the record, Stephen Lang portrayed Holt in the underwhelming 2014 film adaptation of A Good Marriage.) Pick up the phone and call the Dude, J.J.
“Quitters, Inc.”
If not King’s best short story, “Quitters, Inc.” (first published in Night Shift) is certainly in the top 5. Looking to quit smoking once and for all, Richard Morrison becomes a client of a word-of-mouth firm that goes to extreme measures in the name of helping you kick your bad habits. Measures like subjecting a loved one to electroshock therapy and/or finger-severing. Previously adapted for the big screen in the 1985 omnibus, Cat’s Eye, Quitters, Inc. is headquartered in New York, but there’s no reason why they couldn’t open a Castle Rock branch.
Rage
Published in 1977, King’s first book as Richard Bachman has been out of print — with the author’s full approval — for decades, due to its graphic depiction of a high school shooting. His strong distaste for that novel would probably complicate any attempts to work it into the mythology of Castle Rock. And yet, films like Snow Angels and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer have since demonstrated that there’s a way to broach this topic without being exploitative. Also, Rage ends with shooter Charlie Decker being confined to an Augusta-located mental institution, where he’d presumably still be four decades later. He could become Castle Rock‘s version of Hannibal Lecter.
Hulu’s Castle Rock will begin production this year.
Read More:
Review: ‘FEUD: Bette and Joan’ Cleverly Tackles Sexism and Ageism
‘Planet Earth II’ Producers Preview ‘Jungles’
Freddie Stroma on His New H.G. Wells Drama ‘Time After Time’
