Why Hulu’s Castle Rock Was Canceled After Season 2
After season 2, Hulu’s Castle Rock has been canceled, and it doesn’t look as if another network is looking to pick it up anytime soon; here’s why.
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Hulu has made the decision to cancel Castle Rock after season 2 — here’s why this decision happens, and whether there’s any chance it could return.
The series is named after the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, the setting for several major works written by prolific horror author, Stephen King. In Castle Rock season 1, show creators Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason included the Shawshank State Penitentiary from Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption as the foundation for several characters. It also brought back several actors familiar to King’s body of work such as Sissy Spacek of Carrie fame as well as Bill Skarsgård, who famously portrayed Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two. Castle Rock season 2 took a drastic turn by pivoting away from the original cast and characters and instead, it centered around Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) from the 1987 novel, Misery. Season 2 also involved the setting of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, from the short story of the same name.
Castle Rock was a remarkable contribution to the expansive list of Stephen King influenced media due to its ability to merge major stories and locations from the fictional town to create one cohesive story. Both seasons have remarkably high reviews with season 1 sitting at a current rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and season 2 with an 89% rating. With Castle Rock’s success, it is hard to believe that it wasn’t renewed for season 3 and, instead, was cancelled. Here’s why Hulu chose to close the book on the incredible series after only two seasons.
When Hulu made the decision to end Castle Rock after season 2, it was not based on reviews or viewership. Instead, it was based on the fact that they had always intended to conclude the series after Annie Wilkes’s story. This was due to an array of factors, one of which includes a major shift in company interest towards HBO Max. While this explanation is undoubtedly true, it may also be a result of so many adaptations of major stories that take place in Castle Rock receiving individual chance at telling their stories. For instance, Gerald’s Game takes place in the fictional town, but it was transformed into an incredible and disturbing feature length movie for Netflix in 2017. It would be a major feat – and a risky one – to tackle doing another adaptation of the story so close to this acclaimed release.
The series does not lack any source material. There are over twenty stories that take place in Castle Rock, but the plan to cancel the series was made long before audiences became aware. It had been an entire year since fans heard any news on the state of Castle Rock season 3. The longer an announcement was drawn out, the clearer it became that there would be no more trips to Castle Rock to see the Shawshank State Penitentiary or Jerusalem’s Lot.
Ultimately, Castle Rock had to end in order to avoid growing stale; this decision dodged potentially retelling stories that have already been adapted in the past decade, which could feel repetitive to audiences. While there is no news on whether or not HBO Max will pick it up later for their streaming platform, it seems highly unlikely.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/hulu-castle-rock-canceled-reason-explained/