Hulu’s Stephen King series Castle Rock has added IT actor Chosen Jacobs to the cast. The J.J. Abrams-produced series previously cast Jacobs’ IT castmate Bill Skarsgard, unforgettable as Pennywise the Clown, in the role of an inmate at Shawshank Prison. Melanie Lynskey takes the female lead in the series set in the titular town, a recurring setting throughout King’s works. Hulu previously scored a hit with an adaptation of King’s time travel novel 11.22.63, produced by J.J. Abrams and starring James Franco.
Unlike IT, Castle Rock won’t focus on any particular Stephen King novel or short story. Instead, it picks up threads from a number of King’s works and weaves them together into something new. King himself has no involvement in writing the show. A new trailer for the Hulu series debuted during the Super Bowl. Castle Rock also stars Sissy Spacek, Terry O’Quinn, Scott Glenn and Andre Holland.
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As reported by Deadline, Chosen Jacobs has now joined the cast of Castle Rock. Jacobs will play a recurring role as Wendell Deaver, the son of Holland’s character Henry Deaver. A description of the elder Deaver calls him a death row attorney with a checkered history in Castle Rock. Henry is the adopted son of Sissy Spacek’s character Ruth Deaver.
Chosen Jacobs previously appeared as Losers’ Club member Mike Hanlon in 2017’s blockbuster adaptation of Stephen King’s IT. He is also likely to return as the young version of Hanlon in IT: Chapter Two, which jumps forward in time to portray the IT kids as adults, but is rumored to feature flashback scenes. Jessica Chastain reportedly has discussed joining the IT sequel as the adult version of Beverly Marsh, played as a kid by Sophia Lillis. IT: Chapter Two goes before cameras this summer in Toronto. Chosen Jacobs’ resume also includes roles on Hawaii Five-O and the upcoming series American Woman.
Details remain scarce about the specific plot of Castle Rock. Among the revelations included in the most recent teaser is a direct connection to Shawshank, the fictional prison at the center of King’s short story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. That story of course was adapted into the beloved film The Shawshank Redemption. Other King works set at least partially in Castle Rock include The Dead Zone, Cujo, The Dark Half, Needful Things and the short story The Body, which served as the inspiration for Stand By Me. Castle Rock will in some way borrow from the larger Stephen King mythology represented by these works. The story told by the show however takes places years after the goings-on in the original stories.
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Castle Rock will arrive on Hulu in summer 2018.
