Started July 25, 2018 · Canceled · Based on 2 seasons, 20 episodes through December 11, 2019 · TV-MA · 60 min
Castle Rock is a psychological horror TV series set in Stephen King's fictional Maine town. It tells original stories that pull in characters and places from his books across two seasons. Season 1 centers on a death row lawyer returning home after a mysterious prisoner is found at Shawshank. Season 2 follows Annie Wilkes and includes Somali immigrant siblings in prominent roles amid family and community conflict.
Community feedback
Was our 38% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Castle Rock.
Woke representation / casting
André Holland plays the central competent Henry Deaver in season 1. Season 2 gives prominent roles to Somali siblings, including a doctor and community builder, within the immigrant family storyline. Casting stands out in the mostly white Maine setting.
38%
Woke political dialogue
Season 1 has limited comments on prison privatization and small-town economics. Season 2 shows community tensions around the Somali family. No extended activist speeches appear.
18%
Production
Identity-driven story themes
Season 2 devotes significant plot to a Somali refugee family building ties and facing local pushback. The creator described this as a political refugee story. It sits alongside the horror but does not dominate the premise.
30%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Season 1 shows the prison system as profit-focused after privatization with negative effects on the town. Small-town decline and economic strain appear. These elements stay secondary to supernatural horror.
22%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The series creates new stories inside the Castle Rock setting instead of altering established King characters or canon for identity reasons.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Almost no documented complaints from the time called the show woke or accused it of pushing identity politics or DEI. Some later viewer comments mentioned the Somali characters or social elements. Evidence stays weak.
10%
Creator track record context
Stephen King holds a liberal public record with anti-Trump statements but keeps his work horror-centered. Directors Kevin Hooks and Julie Anne Robinson have some diversity or women-focused notes. Writer Marc Bernardin has done comics exploring racial experiences. Main creators Thomason and Shaw and most other key people show little activist history.
22%
TV Show · 2026
Ben Reilly, an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one and only superhero.
TV Show · 2020
A family's lives are irreparably disrupted when the 14-year-old son is accused of murdering a fellow classmate.
TV Show · 2020
When an insidious supernatural force edges its way into a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy, it leads a seasoned cop and an…
TV Show · 2021
The arrival of a charismatic young priest brings glorious miracles, ominous mysteries and renewed religious fervor to a dying town desperate to believe.
TV Show · 2024
A young boy growing up in the suburbs of 1980s Brisbane faces the harsh realities of life — and the looming dangers that threaten his family.
TV Show · 2022
When one of a group of friends downloads the mysterious Red Rose app, plans change. What starts innocently as a game of admiration rapidly descends into something much darker.
TV Show · 2019
A Philadelphia couple are in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.
TV Show · 2023
A mysterious woman's escape from her harrowing captivity points investigators toward the dark truth behind an unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier.
