Pennywise, Shawshank, and J.J. Abrams? Castle Rock might be the Stephen King TV show fans have always wanted

Five seconds into the trailer for Hulu's new Stephen King TV show, Castle Rock - which ties together the stories of the dark master's horror universe - and you've got kids in creepy masks, a sinister faceless priest, an apparent suicide, and Bill Skarsgard, the actor who played Pennywise in the recent It adaptation. Yes, fellow horror fans, that unusual warm feeling in your insides is called 'hope.'

Perhaps most interestingly to King fans, the trailer seems to suggest that Skarsgard isn't Pennywise in this particular series. At least, not at first. He's a nameless young man, found in a hole in Shawshank State Penitentiary, and no one knows how he got there. Sure, maybe they've hired the Pennywise actor for a totally unrelated role - but a shot of some very colorful balloons in the trailer has me hoping for a return of the grinning ghoul.

Bill Skarsgard in the 2017 movie It.

Bill Skarsgard in the 2017 movie It.

Death row attorney Henry Deaver (played by André Holland) seems to be the main protagonist of the show, called back to Castle Rock by a stranger on the phone, and no doubt dragged into all the mysterious goings-on. "Do you hear it now?" Skarsgard's character asks Deaver. "You have no idea what's happening here, do you?"

Honestly, neither will we until the end of July, but I am hyped to find out. 

The King faithful will also spot Carrie actress Sissy Spacek, Melanie Lynskey who was in the 2002 adaptation Rose Red, and Terry O’Quinn from Silver Bullet, which was based on the novella Cycle of the Werewolf. 

Castle Rock premieres July 25 on Hulu. 

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Rachel Weber
Managing Editor, US

Rachel Weber is the US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.