Throughout Stephen King’s decades-long career, the talented writer’s work has inspired some of the best movies ever produced. More recently, King’s work has become the basis of TV shows that have made an impact on fans of the writer, like the currently airing It – Welcome to Derry.
Unfortunately, some of the excellent projects that have been inspired by King’s work failed to get the credit they deserved when they were released. One of those underappreciated TV series that incorporated elements of many of King’s books and featured one of his most iconic characters is coming to Netflix soon.
Stephen King’s Castle Rock Is Coming to Netflix on December 16, 2025
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On November 30, 2025, the official website for Netflix published an article listing all of the shows and movies coming to the streaming service in America during December 2025. That article revealed that both seasons of the show Castle Rock will be added to Netflix on December 16, 2025. The show originally premiered on Hulu on July 25, 2018 and its final episode debuted on December 11, 2019.
Named after the location of many of King’s stories, Castle Rock wasn’t adapted from a specific story written by the legendary author. Instead, the show’s storylines featured elements and characters from many of King’s stories. For example, the show featured Shawshank State Prison and it contained elements inspired by several of King’s most beloved stories, like “Carrie,” “The Shining,” “It,” and “Pet Sematary,” among others.
Even though Castle Rock didn’t get the viewership numbers it deserved, it did recieve a significant amount of praise. For example, the show currently has a 88% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also won a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several more trophies. Of course, one of the show’s calling cards was being based on King’s books and the fact that it was executive produced by the author, who reportedly approved some of its scripts. Castle Rock also boasted a star-studded cast that included Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Sissy Spacek, Lizzy Caplan, Tim Robbins, Scott Glenn, Terry O’Quinn, Allison Tolman, and Rory Culkin.
On top of all the other reasons why Netflix users should give the show a chance, it should be noted that one specific episode is an achievement in storytelling. Castle Rock season 1, episode 7 “The Queen,” is told from the perspective of a character expertly portrayed by Sissy Spacek. The widely respected actor portrays a character suffering from dementia who is facing a supernatural threat. Telling an episode from the perspective of her character creates one of the most ambitious and successful episodes of that era of TV.
Castle Rock Featured One of Stephen King’s Most Iconic Characters, Annie Wilkes
In 1990, Misery introduced moviegoers to the Stephen King character Annie Wilkes. Played to utter perfection by Kathy Bates, her performance was so incredible that she won an Academy Award and Wilkes became one of King’s most iconic characters ever. Given how stunning Bates was in the role, it would have made sense if other actors were too intimidated to take on the role. However, Lizzy Caplan did a great job portraying a younger version of Wilkes who was the focus of Castle Rock season 2. During episodes of the underrated series, viewers got to see how Wilkes became the character that the world saw in Misery.
On top of featuring Wilkes, Castle Rock also included portrayals of some of King’s other lesser-known characters. The series included Scott Glenn as Alan Pangborn, Timothy John Smith as Norris Ridgewick, Paul Sparks as John “Ace” Merrill, and Tim Robbins as Reginald Marion “Pop” Merrill.
