Castle Rock: Co-Creator Dustin Thomason Talks Season 2 [Video]

Fans of the Hulu series Castle Rock were able to dive back into the anthology series when the second installment began on October 23rd. 

The second season of the Stephen King is a Misery prequel, following Annie Wilkes as she arrives in Castle Rock with her daughter Joy. 

Co-creator Dustin Thomason talked to reporters at New York Comic Con about the new season, creating Annie, and the partnership with Stephen King. 

Thomason began by discussing how Castle Rock Season 2 differs in tone from Castle Rock Season 1, something he admires about Stephen King’s work. In conceiving of Annie’s arrival, Thomason knew that there might be some differences in pacing and tone, but that the overall universe would feel familiar. 

“Annie Wilkes is such [an] electric character, and he was writing that character, by the way, thirty years before toxic fandom was on anyone’s mind and before we even knew that expression. He really kind of invented it in a way,” Thomason explained.

“Part of what I felt was an opportunity in this season was to put Season 1 a little bit on steroids and to let Annie really be our guide into that. To let her unpredictability kind of drive some of that new excitement at a little bit faster pace.”

Thomason talked a little bit about how in interweaving all of these characters, the production team often tries to stay loyal to the emotional core instead of getting wrapped up in timelines. 

Thomason also spoke a little bit about how King’s writing influenced Castle Rock by having characters appear in different contexts over the course of multiple books written years apart. Thomason explained how the original idea was to use this narrative device to broaden the universe. 

“When Sam [Shaw] and I created the show, the idea was that we were gonna introduce threads and have them sort of circle back in unexpected ways in the same way that Stephen does. If you look at a character like Father Callahan, who exists in Salem’s Lot, and then ultimately you see him again in The Dark Tower, but kind of in a different context,” Thomason said. 

Thomason also said that viewers can expect some surprises later in the season, and he hopes fans will start to see some of the connections. 

Watch the interview with Dustin Thomason here:

Since Annie is a nurse, much of the story will take place in the hospital, but Thomason also sees this season as a tale of two cities between Castle Rock and Jerusalem’s Lot.

“Part of what seemed exciting was to take Castle Rock and to broaden it out and to really look at what it is for two small towns in Maine to be fundamentally different,” Thomason explained.

“One of the conceits of the season is that Jeruselum’s Lot has been populated by a Semoli immigrant population who has sort of brought vibrancy and life back to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot, whereas Castle Rock is still faltering in the way that it was in Season 1. It’s a one-industry town [with] not a lot of economic opportunity.”

Thomason also talked a bit about how the production team works with King. This season was particularly special because, in writing Annie Wilkes, Thomason wanted to make sure that they were staying true to King’s vision of what she would look like in a prequel. 

“He sent me a long message, and I blew it up, and I put it in the writer’s room all season long so that we had the way he was thinking about Annie. Anytime we would get ourselves into a story question or try to figure out ‘what would Annie do,’ it was really like ‘turn to the board, and ask the master.”

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Castle Rock is now streaming on Hulu with new episodes airing every Wednesday. 

Stay tuned for more of our coverage from New York Comic Con. There is more to come. 

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Castle Rock is a Can’t Miss Series for Stephen King Fans