Director promises Castle Rock season 2 will have more tension

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I haven't yet gotten around to watching the first season of the Stephen King-inspired Hulu series Castle Rock, I'm not very quick when it comes to catching up on television, so I can't speak to how much tension and urgency it did or didn't have… But I do know that director Greg Yaitanes intends to bring more of those things to the second season, while also evolving the visual style.

I know this because Yaitanes said it during an interview with IndieWire.

After directing the seventh episode of Castle Rock's first season, an episode that was titled The Queen and took place entirely within the home of the character played by Sissy Spacek, Yaitanes will be back to direct two episodes of the second season – including the premiere episode. He told IndieWire, 

To come back this year to launch a new season, a new story, a new cast — it was epic. Just to be able to geek out and be responsible for Annie Wilkes’ origin story, that’s my Stephen King nerd dream come true.

We wanted to evolve the look on a visual level, and move [more] and be with characters more. One of the things that worked well with ‘The Queen’ was point of view. That episode had a strong point of view of character, so [we’re] bringing that into Annie’s story and giving the show […] more urgency this year, more tension. We’re taking the things that worked well in Season 1 and taking them up a level."

That all sounds good to me, even if I haven't watched Castle Rock yet.

The second season is going to focus on 

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.

Lizzy Caplan will be taking on the role of Annie Wilkes, a character King first introduced us to in his novel MISERY, and she is joined in the cast by Tim Robbins, Yusra Warsama, Barkhad Abdi, Elsie Fisher, Matthew Alan, John Hoogenakker, and Paul Sparks.

Sparks is playing John "Ace" Merrill, a 

legendary bully who is taking over his uncle’s businesses and jeopardizing the unsteady peace with nearby Jerusalem’s Lot. 

"Ace" made his first appearance in the King story The Body, and the character was played by Kiefer Sutherland when The Body was turned into the movie STAND BY ME.

A collaboration between Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Castle Rock was developed for television by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason, who serve as executive producers alongside J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson,Vince Calandra, Liz Glotzer, and Stephen King.

There's no word on when Castle Rock season 2 will be reaching the Hulu streaming service, but I'll make sure to catch up on season 1 before it does.