My sister, daughter, and I got hooked on Castle Rock, the horror series that first premiered on Hulu in 2018 but is now streaming on Netflix. Many of Stephen King’s characters show up in this two-season series, but the one character that took me by surprise was Annie Wilkes. You remember Annie, right? Misery? Annie was freaking scary…but now…Annie has become my new spirit guide, and I’ll explain in my review of Castle Rock.
Castle Rock
Castle Rock is a supernatural horror series that has been adapted from Stephen King’s fictional town of Castle Rock, which pops up in many of his books. In the two seasons of Castle Rock, we meet characters at an earlier stage before they appear in their own story, for example, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) in season 01 and Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan) in season 02.
The series, created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason, features Andre Holland, Melanie Lynskey, Bill Skarsgard, Jane Levy and Sissy Spacek in the first season, with the story focusing on the discovery of an unknown inmate (Bill Skarsgard) held prisoner in an underground cage at Shawshank State Penitentiary by Warden Dale Lacy. When the prisoner asks for Henry Matthew Deaver (Andre Holland), we slowly learn about the connection between Henry and the prisoner.
In the second season of Castle Rock, which stars Lizzy Caplan, Paul Sparks, Elsie Fisher, Matthew Alan, Tim Robbins, John Hoogenakker, Robin Weigert, and Yusra Warsama, we learn about the childhood of Annie Wilkes, her mental illness, and her connection to the history of Pennywise and the town of New Jerusalem.
Both seasons offer a delicious menu of beloved protagonists and antagonists from King’s books, but it is Annie who stole the show. Misery was released in 1990, and Kathy Bates expertly portrayed the psychotic, homicidal Annie Wilkes from King’s book. The book and the film were not meant to elicit any sympathy for Annie. That character, Annie, was intended to be scary. We get to see another side of Annie in Castle Rock, which premiered almost thirty years later as a television series.
In Misery, Annie Wilkes is unlikable. Annie has no redeeming qualities, and so we side with Paul Sheldon, the bestselling author, who is kidnapped by Annie…but in Castle Rock, Annie (Lizzy Caplan) is a survivor and somewhat of a superhero. This is definitely not the Annie that we despised in Misery.
In Castle Rock, we learn about Annie’s father and mother, the attempted murder/suicide that Annie survived after her mother (Robin Weigert) drove the car into the lake. Annie’s shock at learning that her beloved tutor, Rita (Sarah Gadon) was having an affair with her father, all while trying to manage her illness without the necessary medications needed for her bio polar and schizophrenia. In this version, we see a young Annie trying to fit in and become a part of the world around her. When Annie’s father (John Hoogenakker) dedicates his book to Rita instead of Annie, the girl loses it. People die, or are injured, and a child is kidnapped. We don’t see Annie until later, when she and her teenage daughter, Joy (Elsie Fisher), break down in Castle Rock.
As a nurse, Annie has easy access to the medications that control her mental disorders, plus Annie has trained her daughter on what to do when there are episodes. Lizzy Caplan expertly portrays Annie as a loving mother. But the true secret of Joy’s identity is revealed after Annie is threatened by Ace (Paul Sparks), the nephew of Pop Merrill (Tim Robbins).
Conclusion
In Castle Rock, Annie is depicted as a victim of circumstances beyond her control. She and Joy are fighting a supernatural cult that leads back to that prisoner in the cage from season one. Annie’s mental illness protects her from the monster that controls the entire town of Castle Rock. In this story, Annie is too much to handle even for Pennywise.
I found myself cheering for Annie, who sliced and diced her way through the cult followers. This Annie would not bend the knee to any threat, especially a danger for Joy. Unfortunately, Annie’s disease caught up to her, and she lost the one and only person who loved her back.
Even as we see Annie drowning in her hallucinations as she follows her favourite author to a book signing, we feel sorry. We, visitors to Castle Rock, have had the chance to see Annie at her best, and I do believe it will reflect more kindly on the Annie of Misery.
And, if you want more background on Pennywise, then jump over to HBOMAX and watch It: Welcome to Derry. Everything is connected.
