Mikael Salomon's 2004 miniseries Salem's Lot includes a very clever Cujo Easter egg that could easily go unnoticed. Stephen King's novels have been adapted numerous times into television shows, miniseries, and feature-length flicks. The stories have ranged from telekinetic teens like Carrie White to vicious cats come to life after being buried in the "pet sematary." King's novels feature both subtle and overt connections, and characters and creatures from one story are often referenced via Easter eggs in adaptations of another - including Salomon's 2004 miniseries Salem's Lot.
First published as a novel in 1975, 'Salem's Lot kick-started the horrors that would take place in the fictional town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine. It is one of three Maine settings that King has created over the course of his literary career, the other two being Derry and Castle Rock. The original novel and its subsequent adaptations tell the story of Ben Mears, a writer who travels back to his hometown in order to unearth the truth behind the trauma he experienced in his childhood. As the story progresses, the evils of 'Salem's Lot and its ties to vampires come to the surface as citizens transform into fanged, bloodthirsty killers. There are several stories that now take place in 'Salem's Lot that aren't necessarily tied to the original novel, but the one referenced in the 2004 miniseries is not one of them.
Cujo's story takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, where Johnny Smith of The Dead Zone discovered his psychic powers and the group of boys from The Body (Stand By Me) set out to see a dead body. The dog has never been mentioned in any story pertaining to 'Salem's Lot until Salomon's miniseries. By naming a police dog Cujo, he cemented that the events of his adaptation take place during the same timeline as that of Cujo. In turn, Salomon strengthens the cinematic King universe by having the townspeople of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine recognize how vicious the rabid St. Bernard once was.
In the 2004 miniseries, the dog that accompanies the police in search of a missing boy is named Cujo. Instead of a St. Bernard, he is a Rottweiler. Statistically, these dogs are perceived as vicious and unsafe to have around children, while St. Bernard's have been ascribed nanny-like qualities due to movie depictions such as Nana from Disney's Peter Pan. When King crafted Cujo and gave the dog its breed, "man's best friend" transformed into man's worst nightmare. Thus, the name Cujo because synonymous with perceptively vicious breeds, such as Rottweilers.
The Easter egg for Cujo indicates that the townspeople of Jerusalem's Lot heard the story of what happened in Castle Rock. As seen in the Hulu original series Castle Rock, the towns are only a short distance from one another, so word can travel fast. If the police department of 'Salem's Lot wanted to ensure that anyone who comes in contact with their canine counterpart would be fearful of it, the name Cujo is more than fitting. Not only does the breed of dog have a fearsome reputation, the connotation of its name heightens it.
While the Rottweiler version of Cujo only appears once throughout the miniseries' entirety, its impact is relatively important to the King cinematic universe. It solidifies that the citizens of each fictional Maine town are privy to what happens between them, especially in regards to the dog's attack. Mikael Salomon's clever Cujo Easter egg in Salem's Lot was a clever nod towards the vicious St. Bernard and a unique way of tying the towns together.