Castle Rock type TV Show network Hulu genre Thriller

A woman holding a bloody knife. A hand grasping the bars of a cage. A high school mascot leaping to his death. An alligator. A funeral. A corpse.

Clearly, there’s something rotten in Castle Rock.

Based on Stephen King’s literary canon (did you catch those glimpses of Shawshank State Prison and the number 237?) and set in the eponymous Maine town — one of King’s most popular fictional locations — Hulu’s upcoming, mysterious drama weaves together characters and themes from across King’s multiverse. Some like Scott Glenn’s Alan Pangborn, are figures making the leap from page to screen (or in his case specifically, again to screen); others, like death row lawyer Henry Deaver (Moonlight‘s Andre Holland), are new characters that have been created for the saga.

In the latest, exclusive trailer above, Henry returns to Castle Rock unsettled by the place he once called home. The teaser offers a few explanations as to why: His adoptive mother, Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek), seems shaken in her own house; a guard (presumably inside Shawshank) points his flashlight at something inside a cage; and locals stare at Henry everywhere he walks. Plus, there’s the corpse — or rather, the body — hidden under a sheet, the man in a mask, and Bill Skarsgård’s presence. (No, the It star isn’t playing Pennywise, but he looks creepy nonetheless.)

The voiceover (unmistakably delivered by Lost alum Terry O’Quinn, who plays Dale Lacy, though he’s never seen speaking on screen) sums it up best: “There’s blood in every backyard, inside every house. People say it wasn’t me; it was this place. And the thing is, they’re right.”

The series, created by Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason (Manhattan), is executive produced by the pair along with J.J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson, Liz Glotzer, and King himself. Along with Holland, Glenn, Spacek, Skarsgård, and O’Quinn, the 10-episode drama stars Melanie Lynskey and Jane Levy.

Castle Rock debuts July 25 on Hulu.