Castle Rock season 2 continues season 1 by taking place in the fictional town in Maine featured in several of Stephen King’s most notable novels. Despite its northeastern location, it was actually filmed predominately in the New England state of Massachusetts. Here’s every filming location utilized by the film crew for Castle Rock season 2.
The series is set in Castle Rock, Maine, where stories such as Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and The Dead Zone take place. In season 1, Castle Rock featured several stars familiar to the works of King including Bill Skarsgård, who notably portrayed Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two as well as Sissy Spacek, who played the telekinetic teen Carrie White in Carrie. Rather than continue the story that surrounded a crisis at Shawshank State Penitentiary, season 2 took a notable shift by focusing on Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) of Misery. The nurse travels to Castle Rock with her young daughter when the two get stuck there. As the story unfolds, her sinister personality and the terrors hidden in the town begin to unfold.
Castle Rock season 1 was filmed in Orange, Massachusetts. The location perfectly captured the eerie depiction of Castle Rock, Maine that King had eloquently written into several unforgettable stories. He is known for crafting unique locations, such as Derry, Maine, which could develop into a television series with Lovecraft Country’s Misha Green as its creator and director. Season 2 of Castle Rock returned to Orange, Massachusetts in order to maintain continuity between the seasons. If they moved filming too drastically, it could’ve altered the purpose behind Castle Rock; merging the stories that took place there together.
The Slencil Company Buildings Return
The Slencil Company Buildings in Orange, Massachusetts returned in Castle Rock season 2. Just like in season 1, the building on the left remained the Castle Rock police department. It is close to downtown Orange and, as such, is home to several major locations for both seasons of the series. While it is never truly addressed, it is assumed that Molly Strand’s real estate company, M. Strand & Associates Real Estate, remained at the mill building nearby. The exteriors for the Mellow Tiger Bar are presumably the same as well. These buildings weren’t utilized to the extent that they were in Castle Rock season 1, but they made a few appearances throughout season 2, and are integral to crafting the familiarity of King’s iconic fictional town.
Jerusalem’s Lot / Gardner, Massachusetts
Jerusalem’s Lot is another fictional town that is near Castle Rock. It is derived from King’s 1975 horror novel ‘Salem’s Lot. The location is described as having a history deeply involved in witchcraft and sexual practices such as inbreeding. As King lore states, it is home to the wretched and evil, including vampires. The story itself has been adapted into a two-part miniseries, similar to the first adaptation of IT. While the town doesn’t necessarily have a major role in season 2, the Marsten house that is located in it does. The location for Jerusalem’s lot is Gardner, Massachusetts, which is located approximately twenty miles from Orange.
Emporium Galorium / Clinton, Massachusetts
The Emporium Galorium is run by Pop Merrill. It’s a junkyard shop that appears in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, The Sun Dog, and Needful Things. In Castle Rock, it is the site of one of the season’s most intense scenes in season 2, episode 9, “Caveat Emptor”, when a group of cultists come to attack it and those inside. The threat of the cultists transforming and possessing Annie, Abdi, Pop, Nadia, and Chance grows to the point where a bomb may be necessary to save them. All of the filming for this scene and the location took place on Clinton, Massachusetts’s main street. It is not abnormal for Castle Rock’s filming to take them beyond Orange. There are several buildings that necessitate travelling to different towns in Massachusetts, including the spot of the Emporium Galorium. Clinton, Massachusetts is located approximately 45 miles from Orange.
The Marsten House / Speculated Location(s)
There are several speculated locations pertaining to the Marsten house. It is assumed that most of the scenes captured from the inside were filmed in a studio built on location, similar to some of the scenes shot in season 1. While Annie Wilkes runs through long dark hallways, people familiar with some of the buildings in Orange, Massachusetts have concluded that it is the abandoned women’s prison. Others have speculated that it is the return of the Public Health Museum Of Tewksbury State Hospital ninety miles from Orange in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. It was used in season 1 as Juniper Hill Psychiatric Hospital located in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, where Henry Bowers was sent in IT.
It’s plausible that they reused the setting to capture the Marsten house’s eerie New England feel, but its exterior does not resemble what appears on screen. While they may have used it for interior shots for Annie Wilkes’s hospital scenes, it is unlikely it was used for exterior purposes. The other possible location for the Marsten house is the abandoned Worcester State Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. This is far more plausible due to the resemblance it shares with the on screen house, but is still inconclusive. As of this writing, there is no definitive location released pertaining to the Marsten house. This is possibly due to the owner’s request to keep it anonymous in the hopes that fans will not trespass or attempt to visit the home. It could very well be someone’s personal property. Another theory is that it was built in a sound stage, which is also possible.
The Marsten house is location in Jerusalem’s Lot and is known for being one of the most nefarious homes in the King literary universe. It is the epitome of evil in every form. The house has been the site of murder, hauntings, and has been the home of a murderer. It looks over the entirety of the town, representing the air of evil that is spread throughout it. Despite the inconclusiveness of where the Marsten house is located, it is an important and symbolic location that could possibly bring in the evils it details, which further explains the anonymity. Castle Rock season 2 masterfully captured the unsettling nature of the town of Castle Rock, Maine and those that surround it by utilizing several cities in Massachusetts including Orange, Clinton, and Tewksbury, with several returning from the previous season.
