We Saw IT: Welcome to Derry Behind Closed Doors — We're Ready to Float Again
Stephen King worlds collide as The Shining's Dick Hallorann heads to Derry for a face-off with Pennywise, teasing a lore-shaking crossover fans have craved—and feared.
We are going back to Derry. HBO has a prequel series on the way, and some privately screened footage at NYCC makes it look a lot stranger (and nastier) than a simple origin story.
Where this fits
'IT: Welcome to Derry' takes place 27 years before IT: Chapter One — long before Bill Denbrough (played by Jaeden Martell in the films) and the rest of the Losers Club face the clown. Pennywise, the fear-eating monster Bill Skarsgard brought to life in the movies, is still the town’s recurring nightmare; the clock has just been rolled back to an earlier cycle.
The King crossover that jumps out
The big swing here: Dick Hallorann shows up, and not as a cameo. Yes, that Dick Hallorann — the future Overlook Hotel cook from The Shining — played here by Chris Chalk. This is set well before he ever meets the Torrance family, and the show looks ready to lean into his abilities in a fight against Derry’s resident evil.
What they showed at NYCC
GamesRadar+ editor Lauren Milici caught two sequences behind closed doors. Both are designed to rattle you and also set some ground rules for how this version of Derry operates.
- Scene 1: Dick Hallorann sits in the back of a military transport while Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) and Capt. Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso) pilot the plane. In a jarring cut, Dick steps straight into a sewer. War imagery flashes around him — combat, death, the whole traumatic reel — and he looks up to see baby dolls and toys tumbling from the top of a towering heap, stacked like a skyscraper. Then, the unmistakable: Pennywise’s glowing yellow eyes staring out of the darkness.
- Scene 2: Major Hanlon and Capt. Russo move through a sewer with guns up. Charlotte (Taylour Paige), Leroy’s wife, appears — except only Leroy sees her. Pauly doesn’t, which is the tip-off she’s a fake. Leroy shoots the apparition and warns Pauly not to trust anything he sees down there, and to take the shot if he has to. Translation: Derry is playing mind games, and your senses are not your friend.
Adults vs the clown
What is genuinely fresh here is the focus on grown-ups squaring up to Pennywise, not just another group of kids trying to survive. Putting Dick in the mix suggests the series will test how far his shine can go against something that feeds on fear and wears a clown suit like a Halloween costume. Also worth clocking: Major Leroy Hanlon is the grandfather of future Losers Club member Mike Hanlon, so the family’s connection to Derry’s darkest chapter runs deeper than we’ve seen before.
Who’s who
Chris Chalk is Dick Hallorann. Jovan Adepo plays Major Leroy Hanlon. Rudy Mancuso is Capt. Pauly Russo. Taylour Paige is Charlotte, Leroy’s wife. Pennywise looms over it all — and no, the show is not shy about using him.
When and where to watch
'IT: Welcome to Derry' premieres October 26 on HBO and HBO Max in the US. In the UK, it lands the following day on Sky and NOW.