'Castle Rock' Character Has Bizarre Connection to Famous Stephen King Character

The upcoming Hulu series Castle Rock focuses on the residents of the famous fictional town that is connected to a variety of Stephen King stories, featuring references to the author's notable characters and events. The series introduces a character played by Jane Levy whose identity will immediately intrigue and perplex King fans, inspiring hypotheses about how she connects to one of the author's most famous works.

WARNING: Minor spoilers below for Castle Rock

When viewers meet Levy's character, we learn that she is overcoming some form of substance abuse in group therapy. Later on, she formally introduces herself to Andre Holland's Henry Deaver, confirming her name as "Jackie Torrance."

In The Shining, Jack Torrance took a job as the winter caretaker for The Overlook Hotel following the loss of his job as a teacher, only for the spirits of the hotel to drive him mad, ultimately terrorizing his family.

While the reference to the iconic story isn't far-fetched, given a large portion of the show connects to the Shawshank Correctional facility and incorporates Alan Pangborn, who appears in The Dark Half and Needful Things, but the twist on the identity of the character is somewhat disorienting.

"Our strategy is not to overwhelm the viewer with [references]," Castle Rock co-creator Dustin Thomason shared with Entertainment Weekly. "We didn't want it to feel like, 'Oh, there's Cujo walking down the street by Dolores Claiborne.' Certainly not in Season One."

The more perplexing element of Levy's character is that, in the initial chunk of episodes, events from King's novels are taken as canonical, while this character's name seems to offer audiences an alternate reality from the one established by the author. In The Shining, Dick Hallorann works at The Overlook, with the novel IT connecting Mike Hanlon's father to Dick. That novel also features a reference to Castle Rock, thereby establishing that Jake Torrance exists in the world where bizarre events are tied to the fictional Maine town.

How the rest of the series will pan out and explore the larger King universe is unclear, so it's possible all of the connections and explanations will become clear. Levy herself offered little information about how her version of Torrance will factor into the overall plot.

"Jackie, my character, brushes up very closely to a famous King character," the actress shared with MTV.

Whether the series will depict the King version of the character in addition to Jackie is unknown.

You can catch the first three episodes of Castle Rock when they debut on Hulu this Wednesday.

What do you think of the character taking the name "Jackie Torrance"? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Entertainment Weekly]