Going back to that sound that Pangborn hears out at the frozen lake, can you talk about what went into creating it? Without giving too much away, of course… There’s a grittiness to the prison - the prisoners and the doors and the isolated, unused block of the prison where we discover The Kid (Bill Skarsgård). We had to create the proper ambience is of certain winter locations in Castle Rock, especially the Shawshank prison. Sound is also used to help give the feeling of where we are. I don’t want to give too much away and spoil anything. We had big discussions on what that sound was, what it means, and how it needs to transform and morph as the season goes on and we discover what that sound is. That sound, as you will see as time goes on, is important to the story.
We had discussions early on about specifics, namely the sound that young Alan Pangborn (Jeffrey Pierce) hears in the forest before he discovers Henry (Caleel Harris) in the very opening of the first episode. Tim Kimmel (TK): Sound definitely plays an integral role in Castle Rock.
What were the showrunners’ goals for sound on Castle Rock? How do you help them tell their story through sound? 4 “The Spoils of War.” Here, Kimmel talks about the direction for sound on Castle Rock and how they created everything from practical and suspenseful to supernatural sounds. Kimmel won an Emmy and has been nominated for four more for sound editing on HBO’s Game of Thrones - including this year for Season 7, Ep. Leading the post sound team on the show is award-winning supervising sound editor Tim Kimmel of Formosa Group. Castle Rock‘s sound is a blend of natural elements that feel unnatural at times, like the mysterious sound that precedes Young Henry’s reappearance in Episode 1 - a sound that has the townspeople asking, “Do you hear it now?” Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction, and in terms of sound, sometimes realistic sounds are stranger than synthetic ones. The show is successful in other ways, particularly the sound, which is truly a part of the storytelling. The cast is incandescent and they support a story worth telling.” Even King himself said in a tweet that Castle Rock shouldn’t be watched just for the Easter eggs, and instead, to “…enjoy it on its own terms.
The series creators, Sam Shaw and Dustin Thomason, are credited as writers on all 10 episodes and so far, they’re doing an excellent job of it.
But the story in the Castle Rock series is original - not an adaptation of King’s works. The Maine town of Castle Rock has been the setting of several of King’s stories and there are tons of Easter eggs and references to his works in the show. Hulu’s new original series Castle Rock is based on the universe of Stephen King.