Clara Stack as Lilly looking scared while holding onto glowing shard and a flashlight in IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5Brooke Palmer/HBO
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Ash Crossan
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Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for IT: Welcome to Derry's first five episodes!With the series already having established ties to the author's other works, Rudy Mancuso teases that IT: Welcome to Derry has many more Stephen King connections to come. The series, co-created by Andy and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, is set 27 years before the events of King's 1986 novel, exploring a group of young kids in 1962 who begin to learn about Pennywise the Clown's murderous past, all while the military tries to find a way to capture It.
While already a prequel to the author's novel, IT: Welcome to Derry has featured numerous connections and Easter eggs from other King stories, but it's not stopping yet. In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan for episode 5 of the horror series, Mancuso reflected on being on the set of the titular town, praising the production team for having "transformed a part of [Port Hope] into the 1960s" setting of the series:
Derry was by far the coolest part, because you weren't just imagining it. You were in it. And I'll never forget that.
When asked about some of his favorite Easter eggs and details from the series thus far, Mancuso expressed that "there are a lot" audiences may or may not have picked up yet. Beginning with the "not-so-subtle" inclusion in the show's premiere of a copy of a Flash comic, a nod to Muschietti's work on the 2023 movie adaptation of the DC hero, Mancuso says viewers will "probably pick up more things" as they dive into rewatches.
He went on to point out that "Shawshank Prison is a setting" within the series after being the setting for the self-named novella and film, as well as the fact the show expands on Dick Halloran's backstory from before The Shining. Expressing his surprise at how the show's story "linked to other King properties," Mancuso concluded by teasing "there's even more to come on that" front.
Much to Mancuso's point, King's novels have often found themselves with either subtle connections to one another, or more direct ones. The ultimate connective thread is that of The Dark Tower books, with its multiverse nature tying the different worlds of the author's story together, particularly that of IT with Pennywise's centuries worth of existence and god-like abilities.
While Shawshank Prison initially seemed like the main external Easter egg the Muschiettis and Fuchs were going to go for in the series, IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5 started further expanding its King connections thanks to Chris Chalk's Dick Halloran. In his vision, in which Pennywise was turning the memory of his grandparents against him, he was being pushed to open a mental lockbox that his grandmother taught him to make to store away unwanted things.
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Posts By Dhruv Sharma 23 hours agoThis is a direct callback to King's Doctor Sleep novel, in which Dick taught a young Danny Torrance to do so to contain a variety of ghosts. Going off of Mancuso's tease, there are a variety of ways IT: Welcome to Derry can add further King connections, be it establishing Pennywise's history involving other tales, or bringing in characters from other works. Whatever the case may be, the fact that the Muschiettis have a three-season plan for the series is sure to leave the door open for many more Easter eggs to come.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry air Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.
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It: Welcome to Derry
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Horror Mystery Drama Release Date October 26, 2025 Network HBO Directors Andy Muschietti Writers Jason Fuchs, Stephen King, Austin Guzman Franchise(s) IT
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Dick Hallorann with his eyes wide looking angry in It Welcome to Derry
Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise in IT Welcome to Derry trailer 2Image courtesy of HBO Max
Kid similing in IT Welcome To Derry
It: Welcome to Derry teens looking surprised at something off screen
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