Well, this is a helluva thing to drop on a Friday night!
It would appear as though Stephen King and J.J. Abrams, who collaborated on last year's Hulu mini-series 11/22/63, are re-teaming for a mysterious new project named Castle Rock. If you're a King reader – or even if you're not – the name Castle Rock is recognizable as the setting for several famous King tales, such as THE DEAD ZONE, CUJO, NEEDFUL THINGS, STAND BY ME and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION.
Naturally, there are no details on the series forthcoming, other than it'll be set up at Hulu. A neat little teaser has been released to accompany the announcement.
In said teaser, plenty of familiar King book titles and character names float about the screen, although it's hard not to notice the last one – the one seemingly holding the most significance – is that of Danny Torrance. Danny, of course, is the kid with "the shining" in perhaps King's most famous work. (In THE SHINING’s sequel Dr. SLEEP, we follow Danny's adventures as an adult.) It would be jumping to conclusions to think Castle Rock has anything to do with Danny (he wasn't a Castle Rock character in the book), but still… the fact that the teaser appears to make his name more prominent than the others can't be ignored. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Coincidentally, or maybe not, it was recently announced that King will be returning to Castle Rock for a new short story he's co-written with author/publisher Richard Chizmar. Again, no clue if it’s related to this project or not. H/t to Blastr for that info.
We'll be keeping an eye on Castle Rock as it develops. Anything either of these guys works on is special, and a collaboration – especially set in a town that is so very important in King lore – is a big deal indeed.