We Almost Got The Shining Spinoff — Welcome to Derry Is No Match for Stephen King’s Best Series Canceled Too Soon

Welcome to Derry is dropping spooky new episodes every week, but if we’re talking recent Stephen King TV that actually stuck with me, Castle Rock still has the edge. It was smarter, moodier, and honestly way more ambitious.

The one that got away

Castle Rock (2018–2019) was Hulu’s slow-burn horror drama set in King’s favorite nightmare town, Castle Rock, Maine. Critics were into it — it sits at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes — and it wasn’t just referencing King’s books for fan service. The series stitched together threads from around 15 King stories, not in a clunky Easter-egg way, but as a full-on shared-universe mystery. Think small-town unease with a hint of Twin Peaks, but filtered through King’s particular brand of doom. Bill Skarsgard even pops up, just to keep the vibes extra unnerving.

The Shining connection that almost became the whole show

Season 1 famously name-checks Jack Torrance from The Shining and introduces his niece: Diane 'Jackie' Torrance (Jane Levy). Jackie changed her name to the annoyance of her parents, opens a new hotel in town, and basically treats Castle Rock’s blood-soaked history like a bucket-list tour. She even jokes that her only personal brush with the macabre is that her uncle once tried to axe-murder his family at a fancy ski resort. The show also nods to Derry (yes, that Derry), underscoring that the 'shine' and the larger King cosmos are very much in play.

Here’s the part that stings: Castle Rock was gearing up to make Jackie the centerpiece of Season 3. Then the axe fell.

"I don’t know if I’m allowed to share this. But supposedly, season 3 of Castle Rock was supposed to be about Jackie, and then it got canceled. So I knew [the season 3 plans] signing up for season 1."

— Jane Levy, to The Pop Verse

Instead, we got two seasons and a pile of carefully planted mysteries left hanging. Cult following, great reviews, and… cut to black.

So why did it vanish?

Timing, mostly. The show ended after two seasons (2018–2019) and was officially canceled in 2020. Around then, streamers were reshuffling priorities: one reported factor was Hulu’s attention drifting as WarnerMedia pushed more of its genre efforts toward HBO Max. On top of that, platforms were busy launching shiny new franchises rather than anchoring everything to one interconnected King town. It’s a very industry-level wrinkle for a show that actually had legs.

Quick facts if you’re curious (or need a rewatch plan)

• Creators: Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason
• Network: Hulu
• Seasons: 2 (2018–2019); canceled in 2020
• Genre: Supernatural horror, drama; patient, atmosphere-first storytelling over quick jumps
• Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
• Key cast, Season 1: Andre Holland (Henry Deaver), Melanie Lynskey (Molly Strand), Bill Skarsgard, Jane Levy (Jackie Torrance), Sissy Spacek
• Key cast, Season 2: Lizzy Caplan (Annie Wilkes), Paul Sparks, Tim Robbins, Elsie Fisher
• King ties: Anthology set in his fictional Maine; draws from The Body, The Shawshank Redemption, The Dead Zone, Needful Things, The Green Mile; Jackie Torrance links directly to The Shining; Derry gets a nod
• Episode count: 20 total (10 per season)

Castle Rock vs. Welcome to Derry

Welcome to Derry is pulpy and propulsive — very It, very crowd-pleasing. Castle Rock is the opposite: slower, thornier, deeply character-driven. Both are soaked in King lore, with Shawshank and other touchstones front and center in Castle Rock. Different flavors, sure, but for my money, Castle Rock’s delicate, dread-first approach hits harder.

Where to watch

Castle Rock is streaming on Hulu in the U.S.

IT: Welcome to Derry is streaming on HBO Max in the U.S.

The Shining is available to rent or buy on Prime Video and Apple TV in the U.S.

I still think Castle Rock deserved that third season. If the King-iverse keeps expanding, maybe we’ll check back into that town — and that hotel — someday.