Every Stephen King Book It: Welcome to Derry Could Tie Into — Ranked by Twist Potential

HBO went and made a Pennywise prequel, and without a lot of fanfare it has turned into one of the most plugged-in Stephen King shows ever. 'It: Welcome to Derry' jumps back to 1962 in Derry, Maine, and actually digs into where the thing behind Pennywise comes from: an ancient alien that crash-lands in a meteor and eventually takes on the face the Losers Club knows too well. The surprising part is how much the show keeps folding in King-verse people, places, and ideas without turning into a reference parade.

What the show is actually doing

We are in a Cold War Derry where something is off, and the adults seem determined not to see it. The series calls the entity the Galloo, and it plays with minds: it nudges memories, blurs reality, and uses fear like a scalpel. There is a suspicious Air Force operation drilling under the town, with officials who act more like intelligence officers than public servants. And yes, a familiar face is already here: a young Dick Hallorann from 'The Shining,' stationed at the base, quietly using his shine in ways he probably can’t fully explain yet.

Quick specs for the data-minded: the show premiered October 26, 2025 on HBO and is now streaming on HBO Max. It’s produced by Rideback, Vertigo Entertainment, FiveTen Productions, K Plus Ultra, Double Dream, Warner Bros. Television, and HBO. Current scores: IMDb 7.7/10 and Rotten Tomatoes at 80%.

Eight King connections the show has set up or could pay off next

• Secret Window, Secret Garden (1990 novella) — King’s split-identity story about author Mort Rainey is often read as the 'other' personality doing the violent work. 'Welcome to Derry' has already established that the Galloo can scramble thoughts and timelines, so a Derry resident who starts losing time and hearing a violent inner voice would fit right in. You don’t need a cameo to echo Rainey; just show a fracture so complete that a second self appears and starts taking over.
• Misery (1987) — Isolation, control, and a very bad houseguest. King even tucked a 'Shining' nod into it: an artist goes to Sidewinder to sketch the ruins of a certain burned hotel. Derry already feels supervised by something that makes people look away. A Misery-style turn here could be a local so thoroughly steered by the Galloo that they hold someone captive, keep visitors away, and force the victim to 'rewrite' the official story. It would play perfectly against the show’s Cold War paranoia.
• Carrie (1974) — Telekinesis as a cousin to the shine. The show has Hallorann sensing things that shouldn’t be knowable; the next step is a Derry girl whose powers blow open during a humiliating or violent moment, especially in a town and era loaded with racial tension. And when the smoke clears? Expect officials to call it a gas leak or a structural failure. That kind of tidy lie is vintage Carrie fallout.
• Firestarter (1980) — Pyrokinesis, a father with a psychic push, and The Shop: a shadowy agency that likes to 'recruit talent' after creating it with a drug trial. 'Welcome to Derry' already has feds sniffing around, talking like spooks. A neat bridge would be a file or briefing that clearly predates The Shop but uses its language, or a paper stamped 'Lot 6' as an early run-up to the experiment that later produces Charlie McGee. Bonus points if someone casually labels a gifted kid 'an acquisition.'
• The Mist (1980) — Bridgton, Maine gets fog and monsters thanks to the Arrowhead Project poking holes in reality. Derry’s Air Force dig is shady enough that a single line about sharing 'preliminary data' with Arrowhead, or a crate with that codename on it, would make Derry feel like the prototype disaster. It also fits with the show’s bigger idea: the Galloo is not the only thing leaking in from the outside.
• The Running Man (1982 novel; 2025 film) — In King’s book (published as Richard Bachman), Ben Richards passes through future Derry. The 2025 movie actually goes there: Richards meets underground activist Elton Parrakis, walks past red balloons in a storefront, and a local hypes a Chinese spot as 'the best takeout in Maine.' Derry Town Hall even makes a cameo. Since the film and the show hit the same year, that overlap feels intentional. The prequel’s smart play would be to show Derry becoming a federal media or security hub in the 1960s, laying groundwork for the city’s eerie importance later.
• The Shining (1977) — Jack, Danny, the Overlook, and the shine. In 'It,' Hallorann co-founded the Black Spot nightclub in Derry and saved Mike Hanlon’s father from the fire; the show pays that history off by staging a young Hallorann at the Derry base and letting his shine reach into the Galloo’s origin. If the entity notices him back, a quick, unexplained vision of a snow-choked hotel or a hallway filled with blood would stitch the timelines together without breaking anything.
• Dreamcatcher (2001) — Back to Derry and the woods, where old friends with a telepathic link face an alien parasite and a rogue military unit. The book plants one of King’s loudest 'It' nods downtown with a vandalized memorial that reads:

"Pennywise Lives"

The series seems to be quietly rehabbing that book’s messier reputation by treating its ideas as future echoes of what starts in 1962. A believable breadcrumb here: a military scenario doc in Derry describing an 'alien parasite outbreak' as a possible Galloo-adjacent event, or an elder warning of 'another sickness from the sky.' It frames both invasions as related cosmic spillover, which tracks with what the show is building.

The connective tissue that actually works

The fun twist is how down-to-earth the show keeps these links. Hallorann isn’t a wink; he’s a character. The Air Force isn’t just wallpaper; it anchors threads that could lead to The Shop or Arrowhead. Even the Running Man tie makes Derry feel like a place the government keeps circling back to for reasons that aren’t entirely human.

What crossover should it double down on next? I’m torn between a subtle Arrowhead name-drop and a full-blown Lot 6 tease. Either way, 'It: Welcome to Derry' is already streaming on HBO Max, and it’s doing more King-world heavy lifting than it’s getting credit for.