Stephen King Claims He Knows Nothing about ‘Castle Rock’

Of the many Stephen King adaptations debuting in 2018, one that audiences are most excited for is Castle Rock, which will be debuting on Hulu. The series will bring together multiple characters from a variety of different stories, yet the author himself claims he knows virtually nothing about the series.

“I’m as much in the dark as anybody else,” King confessed to Entertainment Weekly. “I don’t know anything about it so I just hope it turns out really well. It must be going okay. It’s typical J.J. [Abrams]. There’s been nothing that I’ve seen in the press, or anything, about it.”

The author might feel as though he’s in the dark about the upcoming series, but he also revealed that co-writing the novella Gwendy’s Button Box with Rich Chizmar reminded him of his passion for the fictional town that is often the epicenter of many of his stories.

“It kind of renewed my interest in Castle Rock. I hadn’t thought about that place in a long time, and I think Rich knew more about the backstory of the town than I did, but he got me interested in it,” King confessed. “Now I’ve written another novella called Elevation, which is also a Castle Rock story and, in some ways, it’s almost like a sequel to Gwendy. Sometimes you seed the ground, and you get a little fertilizer, and things turn out.”

From stories like Needful Things to The Dark Half and even IT, characters either directly related to or tangentially connected to the town of Castle Rock make appearances, crafting a seeming alternate and interconnected universe in which all of King’s stories are a part of. The upcoming series will explore the residents of the town, combining both well-known personalities and all-new residents.

King might not be fully aware of how the show will pan out, but he did give the showrunners his blessing to explore the town as they saw fit.

“He’s been a really amazing collaborator,” co-showrunner Dustin Thomason shared with Flickering Myth. “First when we came to the show, we came to J.J. and then to Stephen, altogether, to say, ‘We want to play in your universe.’ We were incredibly surprised, and now knowing a little more about who Stephen King is perhaps less surprised, that he was so willing to let us expand upon what he had done. To use these characters.”

He continued, “Every time we’ve asked him, ‘Can we do this thing to one of your iconic characters?’ he always says, ‘Yes,’ and I think it’s because he wants these characters to find new life as well. It’s been really great to be able to talk to him about these characters that we all know and love and feel like he really has our back in terms of how we use them in hopefully original ways.”

Castle Rock will be landing on Hulu sometime in 2018.

[H/T Entertainment Weekly]