Hulu’s “Castle Rock” isn’t a direct adaptation of any Stephen King stories but it is set within his own fictional world. Castle Rock is of course a town that pops up in many of King’s stories, part of his fictional Maine that also includes Derry, the primary setting of IT. Also in King’s Maine? Jerusalem’s Lot (aka Salem’s Lot), which first appeared in 1975’s Salem’s Lot.
If you blinked, you probably missed that “Castle Rock” visited Salem’s Lot this week!
In ‘Past Perfect,’ Henry Deaver puts son Wendell on a bus to get him out of Castle Rock, but Wendell ends up getting off at an earlier stop than his dad intended. That bus stop, if you pay very close attention to the scene, is located in Jerusalem’s Lot! A sign Wendell comes across near the stop indicates that Salem’s Lot is a mere 24 miles away from Castle Rock.
As established in the novel Salem’s Lot, the town has a history as bizarre and unsettling as Castle Rock’s. In the novel, vampire Kurt Barlow moves in and turns many of the townspeople.
Pretty cool to see “Castle Rock” establishing King’s Maine, if only in brief glimpses.
Other King works that have referenced the town of Salem’s Lot include The Shining, The Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Dolores Claiborne and most recently, Doctor Sleep.
