If there’s one show I’m looking forward to most for 2018 it’d be Castle Rock. Based on the fictional town featured within several Stephen King novels, the show looks set to intertwine a number of his most notable works and characters into one series.
Not much has been revealed so far but a press release stated that it “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.” Sounds pretty cool right? Though so did The Mist (2017), but I’m hopeful.
"The show looks set to intertwine a number of [King's] most notable works and characters into one series"
A trailer released for Castle Rock suggested there’ll be references made to the likes of Misery, The Green Mile and The Shining, as well as Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption - all great King novels. Perhaps most exciting though is the announced casting of Sissy Spacek and Bill Skarsgård. Spacek’s breakout role was the lead in the 1976 movie adaption of the King novel, Carrie, whilst Skarsgård played Pennywise in the recent It (2017) movie, yet another King classic. It’s been confirmed that Skarsgård isn’t portraying Pennywise, sadly, though It references will occur, thankfully, but Spacek’s role remains a mystery.
J.J Abrams is executive producing, so hopefully his involvement, the meta-casting of Spacek and Skarsgård, as well as the wider King references can help ensure Castle Rock is more It (2017) than The Mist (2017).
https://youtu.be/K3U7Z94NHgg
I think there’s one show we should all be looking forward to in 2018, and that is Netflix’s adaptation of the novel turned video game series, The Witcher. To be honest I don’t think I need to say much more than that, this announcement really speaks for itself on how awesome an idea this is, but I’ve got to fill the word limit so I’ll continue.
"With the right actors and budget it's hard to see how this could go badly for Netflix"
This world, created by Andrzej Sapkowski, has a fantasy, medieval setting and follows the pursuits of monster hunter, or “Witcher” Geralt of Rivia, and the trials and tribulations of his mutant life, encountering political tirades, revolutions, deceptive sorceresses and incredible monsters. The mythological turned fantasy setting was turned into an incredibly popular and critically acclaimed video game series by CD Project Red, winning numerous awards for its design, graphics, characters and plot, so with the right actors and budget it’s hard to see how this could go badly for Netflix.
251 - The number of Game of the Year awards won by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, making it the most awarded game ever made.
I’m looking forward to the time and effort Netflix puts into their versions of Nilfgaard, Temeria,
Redania and many other notable places in that universe. It’s got to be better than Amazon’s revival
of The Lord of the Rings at least...
Image Credit: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe
Co-authored by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, the 1990 darkly hilarious best-selling novel follows Aziraphale and Crowley, Heaven and Hell’s representatives on Earth tasked with watching over the Antichrist through his childhood. Unfortunately for them, a maternity ward mix-up means they have the wrong 11 year old – cue a desperate attempt to prevent the apocalypse.
"[Pratchett] would have been ‘over the moon’ with the casting of Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale and David Tennant as the demon Crowley"
Pratchett’s trusted friend and assistant Rob Wilkins has revealed that the author would have been ‘over the moon’ with the casting of Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale and David Tennant as the demon Crowley. The six-part series is currently under development by Amazon Studios and has been scripted by none other than Gaiman himself, who apparently agreed to the adaptation only after receiving a posthumous letter from Pratchett, granting him permission to go ahead without him.
"The series has been scripted by none other than Gaiman himself"
Gaiman has recently enjoyed screen time with the adaptions of American Gods and Lucifer, whilst feature film versions of Pratchett’s Mort and The Wee Free Men, of his renowned Discworld series, have recently been announced (but they are movies so I’m not allowed to talk about them…). After the latter’s death in 2015 following a stubborn battle with a rare form of Alzheimer’s, it’s such a shame that the late (and eternally great) author won’t be around to watch them himself.
Image Credit: CHRIS DRUMM (Flickr)
