Warning: This article contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-5!
Fans of Stephen King’s novels will know that these tales of small-town terror and tortured souls aren’t simply standalone stories. They’re all part of a larger storytelling multiverse, and crossovers can and do frequently happen. That’s certainly true for IT: Welcome to Derry – not only is this series a prequel to the It movies, it also includes nods to other King characters and storylines.
With the first two episodes having premiered on HBO Max, we figured now is a great time to break down the key Stephen King easter eggs in Welcome to Derry and explore how the series is taking advantage of the King multiverse. Keep checking back, as we’ll update this piece as more episodes air.
What Is Bill Skarsgård’s Villain Pennywise?
With Welcome to Derry taking place 27 years before the events of 2017’s It, it should come as no surprise that there aren’t many returning actors for this prequel. In fact, the only confirmed veteran of the series is Bill Skarsgård, who is once again playing the demonic, shapeshifting villain, It (whose favorite form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown). We don’t actually see Skarsgård's Pennywise until Episode 5, but the character’s nefarious influence is certainly felt throughout the season. If there’s any takeaway from the series, it’s that Derry was a cursed place long before the Losers Club clashed with Pennywise for the first time.
With Pennywise being such an important part of the series, it’s worth taking a step back to explore what exactly this character is and how he fits into King’s monster multiverse. The It novel establishes that It is an alien entity created in the void outside the universe. It eventually crashed on Earth via an asteroid millions of years ago, at which point it took up residence in the area that would become Derry, Maine. We see this origin story play out during Episode 4's flashback sequence.
Ever since people began to settle in Derry, It has shown a pattern of emerging for a year or two to seek victims and feast on their fear; it is essentially a psychic vampire. After gorging itself, It then goes into hibernation for 27 years before reawakening and starting the cycle all over again. It tends to target children because their fears are more primal and easier to exploit.
It/Pennywise is easily one of the most terrifying creatures in King’s massive library, but it’s not necessarily unique. King’s Dark Tower novels establish that the multiverse was once bathed in a mystical energy source called the Prim. When the Prim receded like an ocean tide, it left behind a great many supernatural creatures embedded in the worlds of creation; Pennywise is just one of many of those monsters. One of the Dark Tower books even introduces a cousin of sorts – a similar psychic vampire who feeds on laughter rather than fear.
The Hanlon Family
Welcome to Derry may not feature many returning characters, but it does feature one family that should be very familiar to fans of the films. The first episode introduces Jovan Adepo’s Leroy Hanlon; Leroy is the grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who was played in the films as a child by Chosen Jacobs and as an adult by Isaiah Mustafa.
Welcome to Derry shows us how the Hanlon family first came to settle in Derry in 1962. Leroy is a decorated and well-respected Air Force major who is recruited by General Shaw (James Remar) to work on a top-secret program. Little by little, Leroy is becoming exposed to the darkness lurking beneath the idyllic facade of Derry and the racism still rampant in the ranks of the military. In Episode 2, Leroy learns that Shaw is working to harness a weapon that can instill absolute fear in America's enemies. Apparently, Shaw wants to weaponize It.
Episode 2 introduces Taylour Paige as Leroy’s wife, Charlotte, and Blake Cameron James as his son, Will, neither of whom seem particularly enamored with their new home. But however bad things get this season, it’s not going to drive this family out of Derry.
The Shining’s Dick Hallorann
Welcome to Derry is going to draw on more than just the It movies and novel; that much has been apparent ever since an earlier trailer included a shot of a Shawshank Prison bus. But in what is easily the most significant King easter egg so far, the series’ cast includes a major character from The Shining: Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk).
Fans of The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep, will remember that Dick is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Because he has the psychic aptitude known as “the shine,” Dick is more sensitive than most to the many ghosts haunting the Overlook’s halls. Dick becomes rightfully concerned when he senses that young Danny Torrance, the son of winter caretaker Jack Torrance, shines especially brightly, and is therefore a ripe target for those ghosts. Eventually, Dick is forced to brave the harsh Colorado winter in order to rescue Danny and his mother from the hotel’s wrath.
Welcome to Derry takes place nearly two decades before The Shining; at this stage, Dick is serving on the same Derry air force base as Leroy Hanlon. We only catch a brief glimpse of Dick in Episode 1, but he seems intently interested in Leroy, as if he can sense something is supernaturally amiss with the major.
Episode 2 provides more context for Dick's presence in Derry and his interest in Leroy. Dick is using his psychic abilities to help the Air Force dig up and harness the slumbering It. Dick seems to sense that Leroy is special in his own way. A bullet to his brain has robbed Leroy of the ability to feel fear, which may make him the only person capable of standing up to It. And by Episode 4, Leroy is starting to come to terms with the fact that Dick truly does have supernatural abilities.
We fully expect Dick to play a central role in battling It in this series. Just as at the Overlook, Dick’s powers will make him more aware than most adults of the danger lurking underneath the town. It may even target Dick specifically, hoping to draw extra sustenance from his psychic abilities, much like the vampires in Doctor Sleep.
That's basically what happens in Episode 5, when It singles out Dick in the sewers and preys on his fear of his late grandfather. As established in Doctor Sleep, Dick had a loving relationship with his grandmother, who shared his shine ability, but he lived in constant terror of his "Black Grandpa," a monstrously cruel and vindictive man. Dick developed a technique of shutting away his fears inside metaphysical lockboxes in his mind. Here, Dick is forced by the spectre of Black Grandpa to open his lockbox, freeing some sort of evil in the bowels of Derry.
Click here to learn more about Episode 5 connects to Doctor Sleep.
The Shining's Calumet Baking Powder
Episode 2 incldues another fun The Shining Easter egg, as we see a stack of Calumet Baking Powder cans in the grocery store, all displaying that iconic logo of an Indian chief. These cans were also seen in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, part of the Overlook Hotel's extensive larder.
The exact significance of the cans and the Indian logo has been the source of much debate over the years, with some arguing (like in the documentary Room 237) that Kubrick was trying to include subtle commentary about American imperialism and the genocide of Native Americans. The Indian chief image may also speak to the ancient history of the supernatural terrors in this world. Again, It has been in Derry for a very long time.
Juniper Hill Asylum
Episode 2 also introduces another iconic King landmark in Juniper Hill Asylum. We learn that Susie (Matilda Legault) was previously committed there after the death of her father, and she's forced to return at the end of the episode after suffering through another of It's terrifying hallucinations. That means we'll surely see inside its dark halls as the season unfolds.
Juniper Hill appears in the original IT novel as well as numerous other King works, from Insomnia to Needful Things to The Dark Half. It's a place every bit as twisted as you'd expect from a mental institution in Stephen King's multiverse.
Shawshank State Prison
Alongside Juniper Hill, the series is also introducing another very recognizable facility in the form of Shawshank State Prison. The wrongfully imprisoned Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) looks doomed to be imprisoned there, even as Charlotte fights to clear his name.
Shawshank was most famously featured in King's 1982 novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," which was later adapted into the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption. Both versions of the story follow the pliught of Andy Dufresne, a man imprisoned for decades at the hellish prison after being convicted of murdering his wife. Shashank was also heavily featured in Castle Rock, another series notable for bringing together pieces of the King multiverse.
Project Arrowhead
Episode 4 features a quick shot of a building called the Arrowhead Motel. This may be a reference to the Arrowhead Project, a top-secret government program referenced in King books like The Mist. There, the Arrowhead Project is aimed at creating an interdimensional window allowing the military to peer into other realities. Obviously, General Shaw and his men have a very different goal in mind in Welcome to Derry, but the general theme of the military tampering with otherworldly forces remains in play.
The Real Mrs. Kersh
In Episode 5 we learn a lot more about Madeline Stowe's character, Ingrid Kersh, including that she's the secret lover of Stephen Rider's Hank Grogan. The simple fact that her last name is Kersh is definitely intriguing. That's the name of the old woman who lives in Bev's childhood home in IT: Chapter Two. That woman turns out to be nothing more than another manifestation of It. But it would seem that, at one point, she was a real person, and she did her best to help the children affected by It's evil.
The Importance of the Turtle
Welcome to Derry’s first episode includes another important, albeit more subtle, easter egg in the form of a charm on Susie’s bracelet – a turtle, a creature with deep significance in King lore. We see another turtle reference in Episode 4, when the Indian tribe buries one of the pieces of the meteorite inside a turtle shell.
Getting back to It’s cosmic origins, this demon was created at the same time as a benevolent turtle entity; the Turtle is It’s polar opposite and a sign of strength to the members of the Losers Club. The Turtle is also one of the 12 animals featured in the Dark Tower books who guard “The Beams,” invisible energy forces that lead directly to the titular tower at the center of existence.
We’d expect to see multiple turtle references in this series, all meant to serve as reminders that there are other forces at work in Derry beyond It/Pennywise…and not all of them are so sinister.
The 12 Pillars
Episode 4 reveals a lot about the history of It in Derry and how this demonic entity was clashing with the local Native American tribe long before white settlers came to the area. We even learn that the tribe has a legend about the heroic warrior who imprisoned It centuries ago. According to the story, the tribe buried 13 pieces of the meteorite that originally carried It to Earth. 12 of these pieces form a ring around It's woodland territory, while the 13th is located at the center of the ring. As long as that circle remains unbroken, It's evil is contained to the Derry area.
This circular structure is almost definitely meant to be a reference to King's Dark Tower novels. In Mid-World, the place where heroic gunslinger Roland Deschain carries out his long quest to find the titular tower, there are 12 portals forming a great ring around the planet. The beams mentioned above start at these portals and move inward, converging on the Dark Tower in the center. Each of the 12 portals is protected by a Guardian of the Beam, like Maturin the Turtle and Shardik the Bear. It's prison is clearly mimicking the structure of the Dark Tower itself.
We probably won't see any more overt references to the Dark Tower books than this, as Warner Bros. doesn't hold the rights to those stories. Instead, The Haunting of Hill House's Mike Flanagan is currently developing a Dark Tower TV series for Amazon. Still, it's a fun nod for hardcore King fans.
The Second Hand Rose
Episode 2 establishes a key throwback to 2019's IT: Chapter Two with the scene at the Second Hand Rose thrift shop. In the movie, that shop is run by Stephen King's character (that same character cameos as a younger man here), and it's where Bill Denbrough buys his beloved Schwinn bicycle. Back in 1962, it's where Leroy purchases a telescope for his son Will.
Like the turtle, the rose is an image with special significance in King's work, and it also ties back to the Dark Tower books and their central protagonist, Roland Deschain. The rose is a symbol of goodness and purity, though we definitely get a slightly creepy vibe from the shop in this series. If anything, we can't help but be reminded of Needful Things and its infamous shop of horrors.
On the other hand, the shop's current owner, Kimberly Norris Guerrero's Rose, has become a major focus of the series, and she seems to be one of the few genuinely good people in Derry. We'll see if Rose survives the entire season.
For more on IT: Welcome to Derry, check out our review of the series premiere and see director Andy Muschietti break down the shocking ending to Episode 1.
Note: This article was originally published on 10/27/2025 and updated on 11/24/2025 with the latest information about IT: Welcome to Derry.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
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