It: Welcome to Derry Hides a Chilling Connection to The Shawshank Redemption You Probably Missed

Max has a new clown prequel on the way, and it is not just about Pennywise. At New York Comic-Con, Andy and Barbara Muschietti said their It: Welcome to Derry series will thread in some unexpected ties to two other Stephen King pillars: The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption. If you like connecting lore across King stories, this is your moment.

How Derry links to The Shining and Shawshank

Speaking with CBR during their NYCC panel on October 9, the Muschiettis teased how the prequel widens King’s world without turning into a cameo parade. Here is what they actually revealed:

• The Shining: Dick Halloran is a key player in the series, and Andy called out that Halloran’s backstory intersects with Derry already if you have read the It novel. Quick refresher if that name rings a bell from the Kubrick and Flanagan versions: Halloran is the cook with the shine. In King’s It book, he also survived the infamous Black Spot fire in Derry. The show leans into that connection, and Chris Chalk is playing Halloran. Andy was openly impressed with Chalk’s performance and made it clear the character matters here.
• The Shawshank Redemption: There is a storyline about a man who is wrongfully accused and sent to Shawshank Prison. Andy even teased the possibility that, in theory, this could bump up against the era of Andy Dufresne and Red. The catch is that he left it hanging on purpose.

"But the question is does he arrive to Shawshank?"

The setup and the timing

It: Welcome to Derry is set in 1962 and digs into how the town’s nightmare took root in the years before the first It film. The show premieres on October 26.

Translation: expect a period-set origin story that also sneaks in a few carefully chosen connections to King’s larger universe. If they stick the landing, this could be the fun kind of universe-building, not the checklist kind.