Castle Rock is a psychological thriller TV show which is inspired by the fictional works of legendary horror author Stephen King. King is an author who is famous for writing some of the best horror novels of all time, novels like IT, The Shining, Salem’s Lot, Cujo, etc… His writings are mostly psychological in nature that often feature elements of horror & suspense, combined with the presence of a supernatural entity that brings chaos to the lives of normal human beings.
Castle Rock is one such creation. Castle Rock is a fictional town from Stephen King’s universe. This town is featured in several of Stephen King’s novels. It first appeared in his sci-fi thriller novel “The Dead Zone”. King often uses this town to build a backdrop narrative for his novels.
And Inspired by this, Hulu decided to create a TV show whose main story would dedicatedly revolve around the fictional town of Castle Rock. That will show us what exactly happened in this fictional town of Stephen King. Something which every King fan was curious about. Castle Rock is a Hulu creation, and it started streaming on 25 July 2018. Currently, the show has 2 seasons & about 20 episodes. And today, we shall be explaining season 1 of Castle Rock.
Cast Of Castle Rock
Castle Rock stars actors like Andre Holland, who is famous for his performance in the “Oscar” winning movie “Moonlight”. Here he is the main protagonist of the show. The 2nd lead actor is Bill Skarsgard, a Swedish actor who is famously known for villainous roles in Stephen King’s “It & It Chapter 2”.
In this show, he has a very important role. The 3d important lead is actress Melanie Lynskey, a New Zeeland-born actress who is widely famous for playing difficult characters that show us the complexities of being a woman. Here she would be playing the role of the protagonist’s friend who has certain psychic abilities. The other actors in the show are Jane Levy, Sissy Spacek, etc…
Story Of Castle Rock Season 1
The story of Castle Rock season 1 revolves around “The Kid,” whose arrival suddenly brings death and misfortune to the town of Castle Rock. The season opens up with Sheriff Alan, who is looking for Hennery (a small child who later grows up to become the protagonist of the story).
Henry has been missing for several days, he and his dad, who went to the forest, never returned back. So Sheriff Alan, who had been searching all over the forest, didn’t find any clue about their whereabouts. When he stops by a frozen lake to take some rest, he notices Henry standing alone in the middle of the frozen lake. Alan rushes towards Henry and takes him back to the town.
The story then forwards to 2018, where we see a warden named Lacey committing suicide by driving his car off a cliff. After his death, a new warden is appointed to the “Shawshank State Penitentiary”, where a guard reveals to her that up until now, 4 other wardens have committed suicide just like Lacey.
After that, Denis, a guard at Shawshank prison, goes to an abandoned section of the jail, which several years ago was destroyed by fire. There he comes across a septic tank, and while checking the tank, his ID card falls inside, the tank is filled with darkness and when he goes inside, to his surprise there finds a person imprisoned inside a cage. This person was “The Kid”, one who would be responsible for bringing chaos and miss happening to the town of Castle Rock.
Castle Rock Season 1 Explained
Those who have already seen Castle Rock might very well know that the beginning of all miseries and misfortune began after the arrival of “The Kid,” but the audiences are never shown what his real identity is. But in episode 9, the creators finally revealed who “The Kid” really was, and to everyone’s surprise, the Kid’s name was also Henry Deaver, same as our protagonist Henery Deaver (played by Andre Holland), but both of them belonged to two different universes. Let me explain…
Castle Rock is a story of 2 alternate universes and how they collide with each other. Now to make things a bit easier, let us call Henry “Andre Holland’s” character “Henry” and his universe as universe 1, while “The Kid’s ” universe is universe 2. Both universes have the same people. But in “The Kid’s” universe, people live a much happier life compared to Henry’s Castle Rock. In one of the earlier episodes, the audience is shown that Ruth (Henry’s mother) is talking about losing her child, which leads them to adopt Henry.
But in “the Kid’s universe, Ruth never lost her child & hence they never adopted a child, so “The Kid” was named Henry Deaver. In both the universe, Henry’s father could hear Schisma or The Voice Of God. Schima, as in episode 6, where a deaf scientist revealed the voice that Henry is hearing was possibly coming from an alternate universe, and finally, in episode 9, with the revelation of “The Kid’s” real identity, it was confirmed that alternate realities do exist.
In both the universe, Henry’s father could hear Schisma or God’s Voice. And hence he took his son to the forest so that Henry (from his universe) and “The Kid” (from his universe) could hear those voices like their father. But unlike Henry, “The Kid” could not hear those voices.
In Henry’s world, Henry’s mother didn’t have a good relationship with her husband Matthews, and hence she had an affair with Sherriff Alan. But in “The Kid’s” world, when Matthew (Henry’s father) became abusive, Ruth just left her to live with Alan, and likewise, “The Kid” too abandoned his father. But this is when their fate took a drastic turn.
After many years “The Kid” grew up and became a researcher in the medical field. And one day, he got the news that his father had committed suicide, forcing him to return back to Castle Rock. While going through his father’s house, he discovered a cage, and to his surprise, inside the cage, a young child was kept imprisoned.
The child was none other than Henry (Andre Holland’s character). It is then revealed that when Henry went missing from his world, he actually somehow traveled into another reality and entered into “The Kid’s” universe. Where young Henry revealed to Matthews from universe 2 that he is his son and he can hear voices.
After Henry entered into universe 2, or “The Kid’s” universe, misfortune, and tragedies started taking place in universe 2. And When Matthew came to know that this young child could hear voices, he started to believe that he was the reason why tragedies were happening in Castle Rock, and he came to the conclusion that this kid (young Henry from universe 1 is actually a devil) so he puts him in a cage and imprisons him.
And as far as we have seen, we can come to the conclusion that whenever someone travels and enters into another universe, he/she brings chaos to that particular world, maybe because he/she was not supposed to be there. And that time passes slowly for these people. We have seen that Henry though lived several years inside a cage as “The Kid,” but they did not age bit.
After finding Henry & learning about his story “The Kid,” and Molly of universe 2 decide to take him back to the woods so he can return back to his universe, but they get chased by Denis (who in this world is a cop), Denis chases them into the woods where suddenly a portal appears, Molly gets shot by Denis and Henry & “The Kid” gets transported into the universe of Henry i.e Universe 1.
This is exactly where episode 1 of the show began, where Sherriff rescues the child Henry from the frozen lake. And likewise, when “The Kid” entered into this universe, tragedies struck the town of Castle Rock, and the series of misfortunes began. Up until the warden, Lacey discovered “The Kid,” and he got convinced that he was the devil, just like Mathews from “The Kid’s” universe believed that young Henry was the devil. So Lacey imprisoned him in the Shawshank prison until Denis found him. This is the explanation of the confusing multiverse storyline of Castle Rock season 1.
Will There Be A Next Season for Castle Rock Season?
If you are asking this with the context for season 1, then yes, there is a season 2 of Castel Rock, which was released on 23 October 2019. But after 2 seasons, Hulu canceled the plans for season 3. So for the fans of this horror show, unfortunately, there won’t be any more seasons. You can watch Castle Rock seasons 1 & 2 on Hulu. The show is also available to stream on Netflix.
You can also check “Top 22 TV Shows Like The Blacklist.”
