Stepping into season two of Castle Rock, co-creator Dustin Thomason is ready to take viewers on yet another creepy crash course into the town of Castle Rock.
We sat down with Thomason as he discussed the creation of the origin story of iconic “Misery” villain, Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan), and his intentions to keep the viewer on the edge of their sofa cushions throughout Castle Rock, season two.
The Knockturnal: For those who are just dipping their toes into the series for the first time, do you feel like they would have to be read up on Stephen King’s books or have seen the first season in order to get into this, or can they just jump right into this?
Dustin Thomason: “I think they can jump right in I mean especially because this season we’re telling an origin story of one of King’s iconic characters, and so in a way, it’s essentially a kind of prequel. So in a way, you can really start with this and then I would hope that people would kind of learn to love — love and hate Annie Wilkes the way that we intended and then maybe they could go and watch the movie or read the book and see kind of where he adventure landed her. In terms of Castle Rock season one, there are these kinds of connections and there will be sort of some things that the fans of season one will recognize and I hope get excited about, but it really is a new story so you could just start here. Although, people should also watch season one.” (laughs)
The Knockturnal: Speaking of that, you were mentioning there some things from season one that kind of intertwined with season two. I noticed there were a couple of easter eggs, especially from the first season. What are some more characters or themes from the Stephen King multiverse that you would really like to put into the series?
Dustin Thomason: “Part of the challenge of doing Castle Rock in a way is like an embarrassment of riches. There’s so many characters and settings and things that Stephen has created in his 62 novels that would be so exciting to kind of engage with, and obviously there are sort of different levels; sometimes it’s an easter egg sometimes it’s a main character. There’s a list of them. For me, it’s like I would love to – you know Kathy Bates played Annie Wilkes, she also played Dolores Claiborne and I always loved the character of Dolores Claiborne as this kind of no-nonsense woman who cleans houses but has this fierce inner strength and moxie. To me; [Dolores Claiborne] would be an amazing character to bring into the season.”
The Knockturnal: Seeing as you mentioned that there are so many works that Stephen King has and it’s so vast and expansive, how were you able to make Castle Rock be in a universe of its own while staying true to the Stephen King theme?
Dustin Thomason: “Well I think one of the advantages that we had was that there were these stories and these books that were particular to Castle Rock, that [King] had originally set in Castle Rock and I think now we sort of in season two expanded beyond the walls of Castle Rock; but Pop Merril who Tim Robbins is playing in this season and The Emporium Galorium, those are Castle Rock fixtures, and The Mellow Tiger, the bar, and Alan Pangborn from last season played by Scott Glenn. So I think part of where we started was like, ‘let’s look at everything that was actually set in Castle Rock, and then expand out from there’.” So that’s been one way that’s sort of helped us to build the town and build the cast of characters around that.”
The Knockturnal: Was [King] very involved within the series, like giving notes or maybe just wanting to give a certain type of vision that he had?
Dustin Thomason: “You know he’s been incredibly supportive and incredibly flexible is the truth. [King] has supported our vision from the beginning, he’s giving us the license. Obviously, when it came time to talk about Annie Wilkes and about this iconic villain that he created that so many people have so much attachment to, there was a high bar, and so I wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with [our] version of Annie Wilkes. So, it was amazing getting some of his feedback in him thinking about what [Annie] would be like when she was younger, and that was something we had pasted up on the writer’s room wall; [it was] what he had written about in his email to me outlining everything that he felt about Annie. So, we kind of stuck to that and really thought about that all the time.
The Knockturnal: What is your top favorite Stephen King book or film adaptation?
Dustin Thomason: “You know, I would say two different answers. They say there are sort of two types of Stephen King completest; one are the people who are obsessed with The Stand, and the other is The Dark Tower —
The Knockturnal: I love The Stand.
Dustin Thomason: “I’m a ‘Stand’ man if you will. They are making a show out of The Stand, but I feel like you could build a whole universe out of The Stand in the same way you do out of The Walking Dead. I love the sort of character work and this tapestry of characters in The Stand, and then for a movie, I guess I would have to say [The Shawshank Redemption]. One of the gifts of this season is being able to work with Tim [ Robbins] and to bring him back into Castle Rock but in a very, very different way than Andy Dufresne, and yet [The Shawshank Redemption] is so important to me and to I think so many people, both Stephen King fans and people who are just lovers of the movie; that’s definitely my number one.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bytPaQ5I8U
