Stephen King fans are gearing up for Castle Rock, which isn't a direct adaptation from any specific piece of the author's work. Instead, the new Hulu series takes place in the fictional town of Castle Rock where some of King's stories take place. In honor of the release of the show and San Diego Comic-Con, Hulu has released a mini documentary that visits many of the real-life places in Maine that directly influenced King and his writing. The documentary is about 25 minutes long and features J.J. Abrams, Sissy Spacek, and others.

Hulu's new Stephen King documentary is entitled The Search for Castle Rock, and it's available to watch now, free of charge, on YouTube. The documentary is basically an in-depth look at the locations where King used to live. King lived in Durham and Bangor, Maine, so the author was able to pull plenty of influence from both of those aforementioned towns. Not all of King's works take place in Castle Rock, but plenty of them do including Cujo, Needful Things, The Body, and more.

Castle Rock aims to bring the Stephen King universe to life in a new and unique way. As previously noted, the series will not be based off of one of King's stories, and instead takes place in the fictional town of Castle Rock. In the previews from the show, Shawshank Prison is brought up and the overall feel has the distinct Stephen King tone, even though he didn't write it. Castle Rock co-creator Dustin Thomason gave more insight on the development of the series. He had this to say.

"Our intention was always to tell an original story in the tune of Stephen King...The germ of the idea was to think about the kinds of people who have the grit to stick it out in a place that's been terrorized over and over again. Who stays in a place like that?"

Castle Rock co-creator Sam Shaw spoke further about the series and its setting. Shawshank will be featured prominently in the new series and it looks like it will focus on reality, instead of the supernatural, for the time being. Shaw went on to say that after they went through the library of Stephen King's work, the justice system stuck out when they were putting Castle Rock together. Shaw explains.

"When we returned to his library, a lot of his stories about prison and justice were really compelling to us...They're the closest things to true-life monster stories that we tell ourselves as a culture. How do we assign blame? How do we reckon with the idea of evil and whether we believe in it?"

Castle Rock premieres Wednesday, July 25th on Hulu. It's a 10-episode series produced by J.J. Abrams and it's based off of the fictional town of Castle Rock. In addition to the setting, the show will also feature characters from King's work as well. The story is about a death row attorney, who is drawn back to Castle Rock after young man is discovered in a cage located in Shawshank. You can watch the new Stephen King documentary that serves as preparation for Castle Rock below, provided by the Hulu YouTube channel.