Castle Rock: Jane Levy Confirms Jackie’s Relation to Famous Stephen King Character

This article contains spoilers from the first several episodes of Castle Rock.

In a series set in the enigmatic and mysterious world of Stephen King, enigmatic and mysterious easter eggs abound. Yet few might be as curious as Jane Levy’s Jackie. Introduced briefly in the first several Castle Rock episodes that Hulu has so far released, we can at least gather Jackie is something of an amateur historian for her menacing hometown… and that her last name is Torrance. It’s a blink and you miss it name drop during the second episode, however it is evident that Jackie Torrance’s name shares a lot of similarity to one of King’s most famous creations: Jack Torrance of The Shining. And as Jane Levy confirmed to us during an interview at San Diego Comic-Con, this is not a coincidence.

“Yes, Jackie does have a close relation with a famous King character,” Levy cryptically smiles when I ask if her character’s last name is intentionally familiar. When I follow up with whether that relationship is familial, her smile only widens, “Possibly.”

Jack Torrance, and for that matter Jack’s son, Danny Torrance, were the lead characters of The Shining. In that early and iconic King novel, Jack is driven mad by the presence of ghosts (and ghostly alcohol) in the Overlook Hotel, eventually chasing his son with a croquet mallet. Danny, meanwhile, has since grown up and appeared in another King novel, Doctor Sleep (which is being adapted into a movie with Ewan McGregor attached to star). While Levy certainly kept it vague if Danny might be visiting his distant cousin in Castle Rock any time soon, she does give us some further context for her character, who we only have a cursory introduction of in the early episodes.

“She is the town taxi driver and she’s also the self-proclaimed historian of Castle Rock,” Levy explains. “And I think in a way she chose to be a taxi driver, because she could just get into other people’s business all the time.”

Yet when I ask how she reacts when the legend of Castle Rock’s supposedly supernatural past comes true, Levy adds, “Her wish does come true in the series of this 10-episode time period, where the things she’s grown up hearing about start to materialize in front of her. And I think she does feel a little conflicted about that. Definitely excited, but maybe also a little bit scared.”

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Viewers may be too when Castle Rock continues with more surprises, more King references (Levy’s favorite involves Cujo…), and more episodes. The next hits streaming on Wednesday, Aug. 1.