Alan Pangborn

Castle Rock is part of Stephen King's fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Castle Rock appeared first in King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and later in the novels It (1986), Doctor Sleep (2013), and Revival (2014) as well as the novella Elevation (2018). (See list of works below.) The town name is taken from the fictional mountain fort in William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies.

King, a native of Durham, Maine, created a trinity of fictional Maine towns—Castle Rock, Derry and Jerusalem's Lot — as central settings in more than one work.

Population and geographical location

The population of Castle Rock was 1,280 by 1959 and around 1,500 in Needful Things. According to the book cover, Needful Things was "The Last Castle Rock Story". However, the town later served as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You", published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. This story, according to King, serves as an epilogue to Needful Things.

In Needful Things, Castle Rock is placed 18 miles southwest of South Paris. In the anthology film Creepshow (1982), written by King, there is a sign at the end of "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" that puts Portland at 37 miles, and Boston at 188 miles. "Weeds", the 1976 short story on which "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was based, was set in New Hampshire.

Geographically, this puts Castle Rock within 37 miles of Portland, Maine. This region could include real places such as Durham, Lisbon, Danville, Auburn, Lewiston, Bridgton, and maybe even Sabattus. A map on King's official website places Castle Rock in Oxford County, in the vicinity of Woodstock. The works in which Castle Rock appears place the town in the fictional "Castle County", which also includes such fictional towns as Castle Lake and Castle View. The location of Castle Rock may also be related to Marblehead, where there is a park by the same name, but most likely not.

Characters of Castle Rock

Joe Camber

Appeared in the novel Cujo (1981) and portrayed by Ed Lauter in the film adaptation of the same name (1983). In the novel, Joe Camber has a wife named Charity whom he has a young son with, Brett. Joe is a controlling husband and has a strained relationship with Charity. Eventually Joe is mauled by his own dog, Cujo, when he goes rabid, becoming the second victim of the dog. He is also mentioned multiple times in the novel Needful Things (1991) which also takes place in Castle Rock.

Alan Pangborn

Alan Pangborn is the sheriff of Castle Rock appearing in the novel The Dark Half (1989), the novella "The Sun Dog" (1990) and the novel Needful Things (1991), as well as being a primary character on the Castle Rock television series based on King's novels. In The Dark Half, the novel in which Pangborn is first introduced, he is shown as husband to Annie and father to Toby ("Al") and Todd and shown to have a perchant for magic tricks. Pangborn re-appears again as the main protagonist of Needful Things, by this time his wife Annie and son Todd have been killed in a car crash. In the television series Pangborn is mistakenly shot by Ruth Deaver whom he had romantic feelings for. Pangborn has been portrayed by Ed Harris in the film Needful Things; Michael Rooker in The Dark Half; and by Scott Glenn and Jeffrey Pierce in the television series Castle Rock.

Ace Merrill

John “Ace” Merrill is a psychopathic, cruel bully who appears in "The Body", "The Sun Dog", and Needful Things. In "The Body", Ace is the leader of a group of bullies who torments Gordie Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio. He later attempts to murder them after they find the body of Ray Browers so that Ace and his gang will get the credit. Gordie scares Ace and his gang off by threatening them with a handgun. As an adult, Gordie sees that Ace has become an alcoholic, overweight millworker and takes pleasure in seeing his tormentor so miserable. By the time of "The Sun Dog", Ace has been sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary and disowned by his only remaining family, his uncle Pop Merrill. In Needful Things, Ace returns to his hometown, on the run to avoid being murdered by a pair of drug dealers over unpaid debts. Ace now holds a grudge against Sheriff Alan Pangborn for being the one to arrest him. Ace becomes the right-hand man of Leland Gaunt, a demon who provides Ace with cocaine and the implications of buried treasure in exchange for procuring guns for him. In the climax of the novel, Ace and Buster Keeton team up at Gaunt’s behest to wreak havoc. Merrill holds Pangborn’s girlfriend Polly Chalmers at gunpoint when Gaunt and Pangborn confront each other, only to be shot in the head by Norris.

Merrill is played by Kiefer Sutherland in Stand by Me and Paul Sparks in the television series.

Sheriff George Bannerman

Sheriff George Bannerman is the sheriff of Castle Rock, appearing in The Dead Zone, Cujo, and "The Body". In The Dead Zone Bannerman, after months of failing to catch the local serial killer the Castle Rock Strangler, approaches Johnny Smith to help catch the Strangler. Bannerman is horrified to learn the Strangler is, in reality, Deputy Frank Dodd, who he viewed as a surrogate son. The two men corner Dodd in his house, where he commits suicide. Decades later, in Cujo, Bannerman helps organize the search for Donna and Tad Trenton, who are currently missing and, unbeknownst to anyone, trapped at the Camber house by the titular rabid Saint Bernard. Suspicious when there are no leads to their location and inspired by his previous investigation with Smith, Bannerman checks at the Camber house and discovers Donna and Tad. Before he can phone in this discovery, Cujo appears and viciously mauls and disembowels him.

Bannerman was portrayed by Tom Skerritt in The Dead Zone and Sandy Ward in Cujo. In the television adaptation of The Dead Zone, Bannerman is merged with the character of Walt Hazlett to form the character Sheriff Walt Bannerman, portrayed by Chris Bruno.

Pop Merrill

Reginald Marion “Pop” Merrill is a loan shark and the owner of the Emporium Galorium, a local junk store who appears in "The Sun Dog" and is mentioned in Needful Things. Pop is a greedy, cruel, and miserly man, who often scams his customers and is disliked by the rest of the town. In spite of this, Pop is extremely wealthy and well-connected and serves a variety of clients, from desperate people he takes advantage of to renowned billionaires. In "The Sun Dog", Kevin Delevan takes his haunted Sun 660 Polaroid camera (which only produces photos of a malevolent dog standing in front of a white picket fence that becomes increasingly monstrous the more photos are taken of it) to Pop, who is unable to uncover anything wrong with the camera. Kevin and his father John (who had previously been the victim of Pop’s outrageous interest rates) resolve to destroy the camera, but Pop, sensing the opportunity for money, swaps the camera with another Sun 660 and keeps the haunted one. All of Pop’s clients balk at it, either believing it to be a fraud or being overcome with dread when they see it. The dog also begins to gradually drive him mad, allowing it to take control of him and force him to take photos on the Sun 660, which Pop believes to be a broken cuckoo clock he is repairing. Kevin and John, who had caught on to Pop’s scam, attempt to stop him from releasing the dog, but they are too late; the dog breaks free, causing molten plastic to slice Pop’s throat open. The dog is trapped once again by Kevin, and the Emporium burns down. Needful Things shows that the reason for Pop’s death is unknown to the general public, though everyone, even his nephew Ace Merrill, is happy that he is dead.

Kevin Delevan

Kevin Delevan is a local teenager who appears in "The Sun Dog". On his 15th birthday, Kevin receives a Sun 660 Polaroid camera as a gift. The camera quickly proves to be supernatural in nature, as it only produces photographs of a malevolent dog in front of a white picket fence, that becomes closer to the photograph and increasingly monstrous the more photos are taken with the camera. For lack of a better option, Kevin takes the camera to Pop Merrill, and both quickly conclude that the camera is haunted. Kevin’s father John learns about this as well, and the two decide to destroy the camera; however, Pop swaps the camera with another Sun 660. Kevin experiences psychic dreams where he enters “Polaroidville”, an odd dimension that exists within photographs; Kevin comes to the conclusion that the dog is a predator from Polaroidsville that sees the real world as a new hunting ground, and that he is receiving the messages from Polaroidsville’s “dogcatcher”, who, through cryptic clues, reveals to Kevin that the only way to stop the dog is to take another photo of it and that Pop kept the camera. John and Kevin go to stop Pop from freeing the dog, but are too late; the dog breaks loose and kills Merrill, but Kevin is able to trap it within another Sun 660. A year later, on his 16th birthday, Kevin is given a computer as a gift. When he turns it on, he receives a message from the dog, which reveals that the dog is loose again and is eager to get revenge against Kevin.

Frank Dodd

Frank Dodd is a deputy serving under Sheriff George Bannerman, while also moonlighting as the Castle Rock Strangler, a serial killer who rapes and murders women, who appears in The Dead Zone and is referenced in almost all stories set in Castle Rock. Dodd uses his involvement in the investigation to keep track of its progress and avoid capture. After Dodd murders a nine-year-old girl, Bannerman brings in the psychic Johnny Smith to assist in the investigation. Smith discovers Dodd is the killer, and Bannerman and Smith corner Dodd in his home, where he commits suicide and writes “I CONFESS” in lipstick in his neck. By the time of Cujo, Frank has become a local boogeyman to the children of Castle Rock. Tad Trenton’s closet is haunted by a malevolent spirit that claims to be Dodd’s ghost and threatens to murder the boy. The ghost later appears before the boy’s father Vic while he sits in Tad’s room.

Dodd is portrayed by Nicholas Campbell in The Dead Zone and by Michael Rogers in The Dead Zone.

Cujo

Cujo is a Saint Bernard owned by the Camber family and the titular character of Cujo and is referenced in several of King’s other works. Cujo is initially a friendly, playful dog who is friendly to everyone he comes across, but one day is bitten by a rabid bat. Cujo does his best to hide the wound, fearing he would upset his owners, and the rabies slowly drives him mad, convincing him that humans are responsible for his pain and prompting him to go on a murderous rampage. After murdering Joe Camber and Gary Pervier, Cujo traps Donna and Tad Trenton inside their broken down car after they come for auto repairs. Cujo refuses to allow them to leave and continuously tries to break in and kill them. When Donna leaves the car to escape, Cujo bites her repeatedly, though she manages to evade death, and Cujo continues to keep a watchful eye over the car. Eventually, Sheriff George Bannerman arrives and attempts to phone in his discovery of the two, only for Cujo to viciously disembowel him. Donna snaps and grabs Bannerman’s revolver and shoots Cujo, and then impales him in the eye with a broken baseball bat. In Needful Things, Polly Chalmers, while at the now-abandoned Camber home, encounters Cujo’s malevolent and restless spirit, which chases her out of the farm.

Norris Ridgewick

Polly Chalmers

Buster Keeton

Leland Gaunt

Thad Beaumont

Gordie LaChance

Chris Chambers

Vern Tessio

Teddy Duchamp

Brian Rusk

Cora Rusk

Charity Camber

Andy Clutterbuck

John LaPointe

Otto Schenk

George Stark

Works set in Castle Rock

• "It Grows on You" (1973, 1982, short story collected in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, 1993)
• The Dead Zone (1979)
• Cujo (1981)
• "The Body" (novella from Different Seasons, 1982)
• "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (novella from Different Seasons, 1982)
• "Uncle Otto's Truck" (1983, short story collected in Skeleton Crew, 1985)
• "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" (1984, short story collected in Skeleton Crew, 1985)
• The Dark Half (1989)
• "The Sun Dog" (novella from Four past Midnight, 1990)
• Needful Things (1991)
• "Premium Harmony" (2009, short story collected in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, 2015)
• "Drunken Fireworks" (2015, novella collected in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, 2015)
• "Gwendy's Button Box" (2017, novella written with Richard Chizmar)
• "Elevation" (2018 novella)
• Gwendy's Magic Feather (2019 novel written by Richard Chizmar)

Works referring to Castle Rock

• "Graveyard Shift" (short story which appears in Night Shift)
• Creepshow
• "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (the narrator was a resident before his incarceration at Shawshank)
• Pet Sematary (refers to the events of Cujo which take place in Castle Rock)
• "Gramma" (short story appearing in Skeleton Crew)
• "Nona" (short story appearing in Skeleton Crew)
• It
• Gerald's Game
• Sleepwalkers (sheriff calls for backup from Castle Rock)
• The Stand
• Bag of Bones (significant portions of this story are set in Castle Rock, along with Derry, Maine and on TR90 at Dark Score Lake, Maine)
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
• "Riding the Bullet"
• Dreamcatcher (refers to the Castle Rock radio station)
• "The Man in the Black Suit" (short story which appears in Everything's Eventual)
• Kingdom Hospital (television series)
• Lisey's Story
• "N." (short story appearing in Just After Sunset)
• Under the Dome (Chester's Mill is mentioned as being close to Castle Rock and the road leading to it is shown on the town map in the novel's preface)
• 11/22/63
• "A Good Marriage" (novella published in the 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars)
• Doctor Sleep
• Revival
• "Squad D" (short story published in the 2018 anthology Shivers 8)
• "The Mist"

Use by third parties

Stand by Me (1986), the film adaptation of King's novella The Body (1982), makes reference to a town of Castle Rock in Oregon. Rob Reiner, the film's director, later named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment, which subsequently produced several adaptations of King's works.

Castle Rock is mentioned in One on One (1993), a novel by King's wife, Tabitha King. In an afterword, she thanks "another novelist who was kind enough to allow me" to borrow the name.

In the 2007 film adaptation of King's novella "The Mist" (1980), David Drayton reads a newspaper called The Castle Rock Times.

Other Maine town creations in King's work

Besides the oft-used Derry, Castle Rock, and Jerusalem's Lot, King has created other fictional Maine towns, including Chamberlain in Carrie; Chester's Mill in Under the Dome; Haven in The Tommyknockers; Little Tall Island in Dolores Claiborne and Storm of the Century; Harlow in Revival; Tarkers Mills in Cycle of the Werewolf and Ludlow (unrelated to the real Maine town of Ludlow) in Pet Sematary and The Dark Half.

TV series

On February 17, 2017, Hulu announced they were once again partnering with J. J. Abrams and Stephen King to create another limited series based on King's works. The series, entitled Castle Rock, is named after the fictional town in King's native Maine which has served as the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. A teaser of the series was released some time after the announcement by Abrams' production company, Bad Robot. The series is set to explore the themes and worlds uniting King's entire canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories. On February 21, 2017, Hulu issued a 10-episode order for the series, with production set to begin at a later date. Filming began in August 2017. The first season of the series premiered on July 25, 2018 on Hulu. The small Western Massachusetts town of Orange served as a stand in for filming scenes set in Castle Rock. The series, starring André Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgård, Jane Levy, and Sissy Spacek, premiered on Hulu on July 25, 2018. On August 14, 2018 Hulu announced that they have renewed the series for a second season.