Set 27 years previous to the occasions of Andy Muschietti’s It and 54 years earlier than its sequel, It: Welcome to Derry covers a earlier cycle of Pennywise the Dancing Clown terrorizing Derry, Maine. Along with performing as a prequel to It, the collection may even function a pseudo prequel to The Shining, one other Stephen King title.
Throughout ScreenRant‘s It: Welcome to Derry interview with Chris Chalk and Stephen Rider, Chalk, who performs Dick Hallorann, addressed how his model of the character will join with The Shining and its diversifications. He acknowledged that whereas he does “draw from earlier variations, […] the profit is we’re all drawing from the identical guide.“
“In the end, whereas honoring the variations which were made, all of us have the very same supply materials from which we get to construct from,” he continued. “So, we’re not going to be that totally different.”
Chalk goes on to notice that “the character is fairly well-developed by the books through which he exists, however then I’ve the good privilege of taking part in him youthful.” This provides the actor “a lot freedom” with only one catch: “So long as I honor what’s created and honor the place we’re headed, I can do something following the trajectory of the script.“
Addressing how Hallorann’s arc will unfold in Welcome to Derry, Chalk mentioned:
What I feel Dick fears probably the most is being trapped, whether or not that be in his thoughts or in a bodily area. And the fantastic thing about this present is he will get each of these. He will get absolutely trapped in his thoughts and in a spot that he simply doesn’t belong, and that is what he has to wrestle by.
Hallorann has beforehand been performed by three actors: Scatman Crothers in The Shining (1980), Melvin Van Peebles in The Shining (1997), and Carl Lumbly in Physician Sleep (2019). Nonetheless, none of those portrayals depicted a youthful Hallorann, as Chalk’s interpretation will do in Welcome to Derry.
His inclusion within the It universe truly doesn’t begin with the HBO collection. Within the authentic 1986 novel, Hallorann is talked about because the founding father of The Black Spot, a bar for African American troopers, and as having saved the lifetime of Mike Hanlon’s father. Whether or not Welcome to Derry covers these occasions stays to be seen, however this connection is thrilling for followers of The Shining, It, and all issues Stephen King.