Castle Rock Cancelled at Hulu
Hulu won’t be scaring up a third season of Castle Rock.
TVLine has learned that the anthology horror series, which debuted in July 2018 and launched its sophomore run in October 2019, has been cancelled.
Set in the titular Maine town where many of Stephen King’s published works take place, Castle Rock weaved together characters and locations from the author’s novels to make way for new mysteries. In Season 1, for example, André Holland starred as Henry Deaver, a death-row attorney who returned home to Castle Rock after a mysterious man (played by Bill Skarsgård) turned up at Shawshank State Prison.
In Season 2, TVLine Performer of the Week Lizzy Caplan played a younger version of Misery‘s Annie Wilkes, who was on the run from the FBI after committing a murder — and when she wound up in Castle Rock with daughter Joy (played by Elsie Fisher), even more bizarre and horrifying events went down.
With Castle Rock and High Fidelity before it cut, Hulu’s current slate includes (but is by no means limited to!) Season 4 of The Handmaid’s Tale, third seasons for both Ramy and The Orville, the back half of PEN15 Season 2, and second seasons of The Great and Love, Victor, while Maxxx, Woke and Helstrom are among the streaming service’s recent premieres.
Looking ahead, Hulu has an Animaniacs reboot (premiering Nov. 20), the comedy Only Murders in the Building (with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez), the true crime drama The Girl From Plainville (starring Elle Fanning), Nine Perfect Strangers (starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy), the opioid crisis drama Dopesick, and a series adaptation of Rodham, which imagines a world where the former FLOTUS never married Bill Clinton.
TVLine’s Streaming Scorecard has thusly been updated.
Are you sad to put Castle Rock in your rear view mirror?
I just started watching Season 1 as I’m new to Hulu. Guess I don’t need to move forward with it now…
Anthology series; standalone seasons.
How did you miss using the word, “axed”, in your headline, or is that meant to be implied with the photo?
Definitely finish both seasons. I loved season 2 and it ended ok. So sad, was looking forward to season 3.
You should finish it and watch the second season…they do not dissapoint. Worth watching if you are a SK fan!
NO YOU SHOULD MOVE FORWARD AND FINISH SEASON 1 AND THEN WATCH ALL OF SEASON 2 CAUSE ITS BETTER THAN SEASON 1!!!
Well that’s a disappointment. I really enjoyed it.
I am somehow sad and relieved at the same time. As much as I often enjoyed the show while watching it, the endings of both seasons left me a little disappointed. I’m sure I would have watched a third, but it probably would have brought the same mixed results.
Honestly, this is something of a failing (albeit very minor) of King’s work at large. Great set ups, fantastic build ups, and endings that are more whimper than bang. Not that the endings are BAD, just that they are let downs. Really, it is more about how good the set ups are, rather than how bad the ending is. The endings are fine, they just pale when compared to the rest of the book.
Season 3 of Shrill is missing from what Hulu still has coming, if that matters to you :)
The blurb was by no means meant to be all-inclusive, but… noted!
NO I loved that show
Only show I really watched on Hulu. I guess I don’t need to pay for that subscription anymore. Here’s hoping netflix or prime picks it up.
Trying to recall if one streamer has ever “rescued” another’s castoff…. Hmmm…..
Netflix rescued Cobra Kai from YouTube. That counts right?
Sorta! But I meant top tier streamers.
Backpedal some more now Webb 😉
Youtube basically stopped doing new eps of scripted shows. Had that not been the case, Cobra Kai would absolutely have been picked up.
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Very rarely does a show that is deemed a failure on one outlet turn into a success at another outlet.
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Cobra Kai’s outlet folded. That is a huge difference.
Amazon Prime Video bought The Expanse from SyFy.
I agree. I know it’s a long shot, but the idea has such promise I’d like to get at least 2 more seasons out of it.
The first season began strongly before fizzling out altogether. Season 2 was excruciatingly painful to watch the young actress mimic an older Kathy Bates. How could they have screwed this Stephen King city up? Answer: Royally!
But in reality Season 2 was a major step up from the excruciatingly boring season 1 and Lizzy Caplan did a fantastic job.
Season 1 was amazing. Love the alternate dimension and timeline. Season 2 was to straightforward but still good.
Lizzie Caplan was a marvel but the final episodes of season 2 were an incomprehensible mess of a plot. I have to admit that even if they renewed it for season 3 I would likely have passed it by despite having loved season 1 and the start of season 2.
This has soo much potential . Season 2 was amazing
With Hulu and Netflix (Amazon Prime too) cutting so many original shows I think we’re watching the fall of the old streaming guards and the rise of the new ones; Disney+, Apple+, HBO Warner Media MAX++Now whateveritscalled, etc.
As well as the plus sign because apparently that is one Ace of Base saw back in 1993.
I think you’re right unless they start giving shows time to grow more. Personally if it’s a good show I don’t mind “wasting” my time watching a season or two as long as it ends in a good way. Leave me hanging on storyline enough times and I’ll only start watching shows that have been given several seasons. I mean, I guess maybe after 2 seasons they know… But with so many services out there some of these have to fail eventually and constantly canceling everything seems to be a good way to do it.
I think that’s the unfortunate part about anthology TV shows. I for one think it’s just a bad idea to have one show tell separate stories with different casts season to season. For those who really enjoyed the first season and didn’t know they weren’t continuing it, it’s kind of jarring. Plus, it’s not fair to the new cast and may alienate viewers right away because you’re the same show in name only. The idea is cool, and some shows have had success with this model but.. a show like Castle Rock is already niche to begin with.. I think it was an uphill battle from the start. But I’ll always have fond memories of Season 1. Superb cast, superb acting, and a solid story that could have been improved if continued. I would have watched Season 1’s story play out over 5 years if that were possible.
Yes indeed. Season 1 had the “King feel” and was just getting started (or so I thought) before everything changed. Had they continued with the original story line, it might have made 5 seasons. I’m cancelling Hulu as this show was my sole reason for renting their service. Something similar happened with Showtime’s “”Penny Dreadful. “ For 3 seasons (except for the rushed ending of season 3) it was a spectacular show and rivaled anything in the genre. Then they murdered the show and brought in an awful, convoluted, nightmare (not in the good sense of the word) replacement using the same title and added, “City of Angels.” Why can’t they build on something promising rather than bringing on something horrendous?!
No!
Castle Rock was of the few shows I looked forward to.
Excellent casts on both seasons.
Guess it is time to cancel Hulu!!
Ironic.
I’m tired of getting use to HULU shows and they don’t return!!! Siren and now this one! I’m going back to Netflix!
I think Netflix is just as bad for cancelling shows aren’t they? I’m late to the streaming game and just got Netflix back in March and a few shows I started have already been canceled after one season even though they appeared in their top 10 watched shows.
If Siren is that dark mermaid show, that was Freeform, owned by Disney, that canceled it.
I guess Hulu was feeling left out of the cancellation action. Luckily it’s an anthology series, so it’s not such a blow. But it’s still a waste.
Just a quick note on Hulu programming: I REALLY hope Dollface Season Two becomes a reality. Haven’t heard anything on that one and after recently rewatching S1, I definitely want more!
Also, I really enjoyed Woke. I love shows that are realistic with a twist and this one really worked well. Great cast, fun dialogue, good meta reality within a reality. Hope that one isn’t one and done.
It was renewed but that was before COVID-19. So who knows what will happen with S2.
Very sad to hear.. Castle Rock is an awesome show. Full of literary gems from King’s books and a dark interesting plot on level with American Horror Story.
All the good shows are always canceled. Hope someone else picks up the series. Great show!
Disappointed season being canceled
The first season began strongly before fizzling out altogether. Season 2 was excruciatingly painful to watch the young actress mimic an older Kathy Bates. How could they have screwed this Stephen King city up? Answer: Royally!
It really sucks that they’re getting rid of this show it was so good and you can go so many different storylines with it they always keep the ones that are horrible and get rid of the good ones I’m really sad.
I’m so pissed off… Castlerock was the only reason why I even watch Hulu. Castlerock is a great show. Guess I’ll be canceling Hulu now. Handmaid tale is ok but not great.
Hulu can suck a sweaty sandal for this!
I’m so freakin bummed that there will be no Castle Rock 3, the only reason I had Hulu.
Castle Rock was great fun! Hopefully a network with some smarts and taste will puck it up.
i’m bummed that this great show was canceled but i kind of saw its cancellation coming since we haven’t heard any news about it for a year now. I think there are some good reasons why this show was canceled:
1. The Pandemic probably had a role to play considering that they film the show all the way on the East Coast (Massachusetts to be exact).
2. Hulu itself has changed since the last season premiered, as we all know Hulu is now officially owned by Disney. So with that major change Disney didn’t want to have a show that was produced by a rival studio (which is Warner Bros as they distributed and produced Castle Rock) on their newly acquired streaming service after purchasing 20th Century so that could be a really good reason Castle Rock was axed (but who knows since Warner Bros have their own streaming service in HBO MAX i wouldn’t be surprised to see Castle Rock move there in the near future).
I liked season 2 alot! I’m bummed. I’d also be curious to know from the writers what the next chapter would have been about. I’m sure they had an idea.