'Castle Rock' Trailer Reveals Premiere Date For Hulu's Stephen King Series

Castle Rock, the new Hulu series set in the frequently terrifying world of Stephen King, has a new trailer and an official premiere date. The show, from creator Sam Shaw and executive producer J.J. Abrams, will "combine 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." Watch the new Castle Rock trailer and see the premiere date below.

This can't get here fast enough for me. I'm a huge Stephen King fan, and Hulu's upcoming series Castle Rock is a must-see event for me. Castle Rock is a fictional town featured in several of King's books and short stories, and this new series appears to reference several of King's works while crafting a new tale of terror set within the Maine town. A new Castle Rock trailer just arrived, and with it, the show's official premiere date: July 25, 2018.

This very ominous trailer features none other than Lost's Terry O'Quinn offering up some chilling narration. "I fear for this place," he says at the start, and from the looks of things, he has a good reason. All is not well in Castle Rock. There's a lot of weird, creepy stuff here: people digging in earth, dark rooms cut through with flashlight beams, team mascots committing suicide. There's also a very overt reference to a specific Stephen King movie:

In this blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot, there's a photo of Bob Gunton as Samuel Norton, the warden of Shawshank prison in The Shawshank Redemption. We know that Shawshank prison plays a big part in Castle Rock – the main character on the show, Henry Deaver, played by Moonlight's Andre Holland, is an attorney with a client on death row in Shawshank. While I knew that Castle Rock would reference Stephen King's books, I didn't realize it would so directly reference previous King movie adaptations as well. This makes me wonder what other King movie adaptation references will pop-up in the show.

In addition to those references, a few actors from previous King adaptations have parts on Castle Rock. Sissy Spacek, who starred in Carrie, the first King movie adaptation (based on King's first novel) plays Holland's adoptive mother. Bill Skarsgård, who recently appeared as Pennywise in 2017's It, plays the death row client being represented by Holland. And Chosen Jacobs, who also appeared in It, has a part on the show as well. Other cast members include Melanie Lynskey, Jane Levy, Scott Glenn, and Frank L. Ridley.

A psychological-horror series set in the Stephen King multiverse, 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. The fictional Maine town of Castle Rock has figured prominently in King's literary career: Cujo, The Dark Half, IT and Needful Things, as well as novella The Body and numerous short stories such as Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption are either set there or contain references to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is 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.