Top 10 Best Stephen King Easter Eggs in Castle Rock

It’s not often that the core cast itself is an Easter Egg. However, for any King fan – both long-time and new – “Castle Rock” has plenty of familiar faces. Sissy Spacek, who plays Ruth Deaver, earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Carrie White in "Carrie" back in 1976. Ann Cusack, who plays Warden Porter, is the sister of John Cusack - who was in both “1408” and “Cell.” And two of the most recent alums to the King world are straight from the set of 2017’s “It”, with Chosen Jacobs, aka Mike Hanlon, playing Wendell Deaver, and Bill Skarsgård - who terrified millions with his turn as Pennywise – playing “The Kid”.

Within the Stephen King multiverse, the number 19 is considered something of an auspicious number – often denoting or warning of change for the person, place, or thing involved. For example, in “The Shining” novel, not only does Jack chase Wendy up 19 steps, but the story includes the ominous Room 217, and 2 + 17 = 19. There are dozens of other examples scattered throughout King’s short stories, novellas, and novels too. So, when fans caught a glimpse of Henry Deaver’s old “Missing” poster, they weren’t surprised to see the date 1/9/1991 – two nineteens in a row, followed by a reversed nineteen.

The location of the novella and 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption”, this prison is the source of many an Easter Egg. A visual nod can be glimpsed in the second episode where, for a moment, a street named Redemption Road is seen near the prison. One episode earlier, the music Warden Dale Lacy selects as his outro piece, “Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto”, is the same piece that landed Andy Dufresne two weeks in the hole. Also, Warden Norton and his suicide are brought up during a tour of the prison. But Shawshank isn’t the only King location mentioned in the show. Juniper Hills Asylum – home to the likes of Henry Bowers of “It,” after he loses his mind – also gets name-dropped when they try to find a place for The Kid.

Like Derry, Maine, Castle Rock is one of King’s frequently used fictitious locations. As each story doesn’t happen in a vacuum, the events of one might be referenced in another, so not only are there plenty of familiar actors and locations in this series, but a number of familiar characters show up as well. Alan Pangborn, played by Scott Glenn, is the protagonist of “Needful Things”, and is now the paramour of Ruth Deaver. Furthermore, Henry Deaver’s client Leanne Chambers was married to Richard “Eyeball” Chambers – Chris’s big brother in “Stand by Me” / “The Body” and a member of Ace’s gang along with Vince Desjardins, who also makes an appearance in-show.

While some familiar characters from other King works make appearances, others are merely implied. Such is the case when Molly Strand is showing a recently For Sale house to potential new homeowners. When it is made known to the buyers that one of the previous owners of the property died a terrible death, Molly tries to assuage their concerns by confessing that a murderous strangler died in her house, but she ‘s totally fine! The reference here is to the book and film “The Dead Zone,” which is also set in Castle Rock, and sees serial strangler Frank Dodd kill himself at home before he can be arrested.

It is discovered that before his sudden suicide, Warden Dale Lacy was compiling files on all of the terrible things that have happened in Castle Rock over the years. In one scene, as his files are being looked through, a number of classic King tales get a call back; from “Needful Things” to “Cujo” to “The Body” to “The Dead Zone”. With animal attacks, murder, and a visit from perhaps the Devil himself, Castle Rock makes Derry, Maine look like a safe, quiet little town.

After “The Shawshank Redemption”, the most called-back story in “Castle Rock” in most certainly “Needful Things”. Fans of the book will be happy to see that along with Alan Pangborn, a couple of establishments have made their way from one story to the other. Nan’s Luncheonette (which seems to be a chain, as it appears in both Derry and Castle Rock) gets a mention from Henry Deaver, while The Mellow Tiger, a bar and a main location in “Needful Things”, seems to still be doing a good business.

As a way to combat her increasingly severe senility, Ruth Deaver uses chess pieces to bring herself back to reality. During a particularly bad moment, she finds the red king. To Stephen King fans, this seems significant, as The Crimson King is THE Big Bad and source of all evil in SK's universe. Also auspicious is that her chess set is not in the standard black and white, but red and white. The overarching theme for many of King’s works is the battle between good and evil, frequently codified as The White (for good) and The Red (for evil). Safe to say, something big is going down in Castle Rock.

There are many familiar faces in Castle Rock, but even some of the new ones have connections of their own. Jackie is Molly’s assistant, and while she seems sweet, she is also somewhat obsessed with death and mystery. For those not paying attention or less familiar with “The Shining”, her name might slip right by. However, although her real name is Diane, she renamed herself “Jackie” to honor her deceased uncle, Jack Torrance. That’s right, that Jack Torrance. In Episode 8, she proves herself to be handy around an axe, too.





Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:



Everything in the Opening Credits





Lord of the Flies





Jerusalem's Lot

While it is never expressly said that she has the Shining, Molly Strand is clearly struggling with a “psychic disorder.” She can hear the thoughts and intentions of other people, sometimes from a distance away. At times, she even gets glimpses into the future. Her abilities are awfully similar to those of Danny Torrance, and like the grown-up Danny in the novel Doctor Sleep, she self-medicates with illicit substances to help dull the constant supernatural onslaught. How her “shining” will play out in the grand scheme of things is yet to be seen, but perhaps we’ll get a visit from Jackie’s cousin Danny before the end.