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Preview of Castle Rock Season 2: Cast, Story and More!

BY Shannon Entin

Published 5 years ago

Preview of Castle Rock Season 2: Cast, Story and More!

Shannon and Fadra went to New York Comic Con and interviewed the cast of Castle Rock Season 2 and got to watch a few episodes in advance! On today’s podcast, they have a spoiler-free discussion of what to expect, who are the main characters, and what Stephen King stories will be referenced. And you’ll hear clips from their interview with Lizzy Caplan, Elsie Fisher, Barkhad Abdi, Yusra Warsama, Paul Sparks, Matthew Alan, and co-creator Dustin Thomason.

Shannon and Fadra at Castle Rock interviews.

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2:46 – What We’re Watching: Prodigal Son, Evil, Perfect Harmony, The Good Place, The Politician, Two-Sentence Horror Stories, Better Call Saul, The Masked Singer, Isn’t It Romantic?, Mean Girls, Dinner with Schmucks, The Goonies

Looking for more Halloween, horror, and scary TV and movies? Here are our recommendations:

Castle Rock Season 2 Synopsis

Castle Rock Season 2 premiers on Hulu on October 23rd. They’ll be dropping three episodes at that time, followed by seven more weekly episodes. We were given early access to five episodes (Fadra watched 3, Shannon watched 4), but we’re going to keep this discussion spoiler-free.

19:26 Castle Rock is a psychological-horror anthology series on Hulu. You do not have to watch season 1 before you jump in on season 2 (but it’s pretty awesome, so why not watch?).

Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins of Castle Rock at NYCC.

In Season 2, a feud between warring clans comes to a boil when budding psychopath Annie Wilkes, Stephen King’s nurse from hell, gets waylaid in Castle Rock. It’s the backstory of our favorite ankle-breaker from the novel and movie, Misery.

You’ll also find Easter eggs and references to Salem’s Lot and Needful Things.

Castle Rock Season 2 Cast & Characters

  • Lizzy Caplan plays Annie Wilkes. Her first role was in Freaks & Geeks. She also played Janis in Mean Girls, and was in many other series including True Blood and Cloverfield
Lizzy Caplan and Elsie Fisher
Lizzy Caplan and Elsie Fisher
  • Elsie Fisher plays Joy Wilkes. She starred in Eighth Grade last summer and she is excellent. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a teen absolutely nail acting like an awkward teen as well as Elsie does. Joy is a new character to the Stephen King universe.
  • Tim Robbins plays Pop Merrill. He starred, of course, in Shawshank Redemption. Pop is the uncle of Ace & Chris, and adopted father to Nadia & Abdi.
  • Paul Sparks plays Ace Merrill. You might know him from House of Cards or Boardwalk Empire. Ace was the main antagonist of the Stephen King novella The Body, which turned into the film Stand By Me. In the movie Ace was played Keifer Sutherland. In Castle Rock, we’ll learn a bit more about Ace as an adult.
  • Matthew Alan plays Chris Merrill. He is Ace’s brother and a new character to the universe.
Paul Sparks and Matthew Alan
Paul Sparks and Matthew Alan
  • Yusra Warsama plays Dr. Nadia H. and Barkhad Abdi plays her brother Abdi. Barkhad previously starred in Captain Phillips. These are both new characters to the King universe.
  • NOTE: We reported Nadia & Abdi’s last name as “Omar” in the podcast. This name was listed on IMDB and several articles online, but we have since learned that the characters’ last name is “Howlwadagg.”
Barkhad Abdi and Yusra Warsama
Barkhad Abdi and Yusra Warsama

We learned from showrunner and co-creator Dustin Thomason that there is a grand plan for the Castle Rock series. He says they’ve always planned “to introduce threads in each season and circle back in unexpected ways.” We were excited to hear that and can’t wait to see all those threads weaving back in!

Dustin Thomason
Castle Rock Showrunner and Co-Creator, Dustin Thomason

We asked the actors what it was like coming into the second season of an anthology series, and whether they identified with their characters. We also asked Lizzy Caplan what it was like to step into a role originally played so iconically by the great Kathy Bates. Lizzy called it a “daunting task,” but also noted that this Annie Wilkes is a different person than Bates’ character and that made it a bit easier to make the character her own. We think she does an incredible job!

Paul Sparks and Matthew Alan told us that every episode feels like a finale, so get ready for a big season Castle Rock fans!  

Here’s a video of our interview with the cast:

We’d love to hear your feedback! Chat with us online using #stingerpodcast! We’re @StingerPodcast everywhere.

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