A Breakdown of How Castle Rock Connects to the Rest of the Stephen King Universe

The Castle Rock credits are packed with references to other Stephen King projects. In addition to the map pictured here — which makes note of It's Derry, the Haven crash site in The Tommyknockers, and Little Tall Island from Storm of the Century — are pages from King novels like Needful Things, The Green Mile, and Salem's Lot. The latter is the most important, since it's a snapshot of the vampire book's "Chapter 19." As King fans know, 19 is an important number to the author and has popped up in much of his work, most notably in the Dark Tower series.

One of the most concrete ties to King's previous work is the character of retired sheriff Alan Pangborn (Daredevil's Scott Glenn). In the first episode, he's the one who discovers a young Henry roaming around a frozen lake deep in the woods in the middle of Winter, and he is later seen shacking up with Henry's ageing mother, Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek). Before this appearance, he popped up in King's The Dark Half and Needful Things.

Alan Pangborn isn't the only familiar character in Castle Rock. Remember Richard "Eyeball" Chambers from Ace's gang in The Body? (This King novella was adapted for the big screen as Stand by Me, FYI.) Well, Henry is working on a case that involves defending a woman named Leanne who is accused of murdering her abusive husband, who also happens to be named Richard Chambers. When you consider Leanne's age and the timelines of both stories — The Body taking place in the Summer of 1960, Castle Rock taking place in current day — it makes sense.

Yes, the Shawshank State Penitentiary featured in the show is the same as the title facility in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, which is based on a story in King's 1982 novella collection Different Seasons. In fact, the character of Red — played by Morgan Freeman in the big-screen adaptation — is from the town of Castle Rock. Mentions of the prison can also be found in It, Bag of Bones, Dolores Claiborne, and a handful of other stories. In the show, the prison is presided over by the late warden Dale Lacy (Terry O'Quinn) just before the events of the series begin, and it's where Bill Skarsgard's mysterious character is first discovered.

The second episode, "Habeas Corpus," begins with an eerie monologue courtesy of O'Quinn's late Dale Lacy. He discusses all of the horrifying things that have gone down in the Maine town over the years, including "the dog," which is a nod to Cujo, and "the strangler," which is about The Dead Zone serial killer Frank Dodd.

In addition to Dale's brief mention of "the dog," a close-up shot of some newspaper clippings later confirms that the dog is indeed Cujo. The 1981 psychological horror novel tells the story of ill-fated mother and son duo, Donna and Tad, who go to the town's mechanic in hopes of getting their broken-down car fixed. Unfortunately, they end up trapped in their vehicle when the mechanic's rabid dog, Cujo, kills both the mechanic and the next-door neighbour and begins attacking Donna and Tad.

This is one of the more subtle connections to past King stories. Henry begins chatting with Jackie (Jane Levy) inside a bar called The Mellow Tiger, which is also featured in Needful Things.

By the third episode, it's abundantly clear that there's far more to Molly Strand (Melanie Lynskey) than meets the eye. The real estate agent seems quirky and antisocial from the get-go, but the voices she's hearing aren't just any voices — they're the ones of the people around her. If you ask me, she seems to have a touch of the Shine, à la The Shining and Doctor Sleep's Danny Torrance. It's also worth noting how, as a child, she felt pain at the same time Henry did — this odd dynamic is seen between Thad Beaumont and George Stark in The Dark Half, which is coincidentally set in Castle Rock as well.