Lizzy Caplan ofMean GirlsandMaster of Sexis currently - no pun intended - killing it in the second season of Hulu and J.J. Abrams' Stephen King anthology seriesCastle Rock. In this new season, Caplan plays King’s notorious nurse from Hell, Annie Wilkes, a role made famous by actress Kathy Bates (American Horror Story,About Schmidt) in director Rob Reiner’s adaptation of King’s novelMisery. On Jul 14, 2025,Kathy Batestook to X, formerly known as Twitter, to sing young Lizzy Caplan’s praise. (Her X account, @MsKathyBates, has since been deleted).
“Lizzy Caplan hits it out of the park,” Bates tweeted. “She IS Annie Wilkes. Terrifying and human. Sometimes she makes me feel all oogie!”
Lizzy Caplan is likely elated to be showered with praise from Bates. This is like Jack Nicholson giving Heath Ledger praise for taking over the role of Joker. Or Heath Ledger somehow giving Joaquin Pheonix praise for taking over the role once again in director Todd Phillips' recent re-imagining.
Castle Rock
The Great Kathy Bates
For anyone that might be a little out of date with theirStephen King adaptations, Kathy Bates — or Jo Bennett fromThe Officefor the younger crowd — played Annie Wilkes in director Rob Reiner’s (The Princess Bride,This Is Spinal Tap) original take on King’s novelMisery. She starred alongside James Cann (The Godfather,Elf) who played a famous author named Paul Sheldon. After Cann’s character breaks his legs and almost dies in a car crash not too far from Annie’s front door, the lonely nurse (and number one fan) brings him home to, you know, nurse him back to good health. But things don’t go as planned after Annie finds out Paul killed off her favorite character in his new novel.
10 Stephen King Movies That Would be Better as a Modern Miniseries
Stephen King’s movie adaptations are classics of their own. But have you ever wondered which would work better as a miniseries? Let’s take a look.
Meanwhile, Caplan plays Annie Wilkes in Hulu’s superior second season of their Stephen King anthology series,Castle Rock. She brings us a younger version of King’s nurse from hell, who gets stranded along with her daughter in the infamous King township after a car crash. On top of Caplan as young Annie Wilkes, the new season ofCastle Rockfeatures Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption,Jacob’s Ladder) as Reginald “Pop” Merrill andEigth Gradebreakout star, Elsie Fisher as Wilkes' daughter, Joy. Abrams and King serve as the show’s executive producers alongside showrunners Sam Shaw & Dustin Thomason, and Ben Stephenson, Vince Calandra, and Liz Glotzer.
Lizzy Caplan has masterfully shown the ability to oscillate between comedy (Party Down) and drama (Masters of Sex) and is one of the best young actors working today. You can watchCastle Rockthrough the link below:
Watch Castle Rock
