‘Castle Rock’ Renewed For Second Season By Hulu

Hulu has renewed the psychological horror series Castle Rock for a second season. The series, from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and novelist Stephen King, enjoyed one of the most successful launches for a Hulu Original, in terms of reach and consumption. The sixth episode of the series premieres on Wednesday.

Castle Rock is one of a growing number of original series on Hulu, as the streaming service looks to attract subscribers and compete with streaming giants Netflix and Amazon.

CEO Randy Freer has talked about investing in fewer but bigger impact shows — in the mold of this year’s Emmy-nominated The Handmaid’s Tale and The Looming Tower, rather than matching Netflix’s spending on original content.

“We’re not going to make 800 shows,” Freer told CNBC in a June interview. “I mean, next year we’ll probably make 20 or 25. And it’s important to us to make big, impactful shows that delight our customers, that are relevant and entertaining and have cultural conversations going.”

Castle Rock is an original story that combines the mythological scale and intimate character storytelling of King’s best-loved works, weaving an epic saga of darkness and light, played out on a few square miles of Maine woodland. It’s named for the fictional town in Maine that is featured prominently in a number of King’s works.

Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason developed the project for television and serve as executive producers along with J.J. Abrams, Mark Lafferty, Ben Stephenson, Liz Glotzer and Stephen King. Castle Rock is from Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

The series is the second from King, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television, following the event series 11.22.63, based on King’s novel.