Stephen King fans have yet another show to look forward to with HBO’s ‘It: Welcome to Derry‘. The show is going to serve as the connecting link for the two movies that were released before. The story is set years before the events of ‘It‘ and ‘It: Chapter Two,’ showing how the town of Derry became cursed long before the Losers’ Club ever faced Pennywise.
This time, the focus is on the town itself; how fear took hold, how evil found a home there, and how ordinary people got caught up in something far darker than they could understand. But here’s where things get even more interesting. ‘Welcome to Derry,‘ which doesn’t just dig into the origins of Pennywise; it also connects to another Stephen King story in a way that fans never saw coming. And that connection begins with one man: Dick Hallorann.
What Is Dick Hallorann’s Role In ‘It: Welcome To Derry’?
The original ‘It‘ novel, written by Stephen King, mentioned Dick Hallorann, having originated in his novel, ‘The Shining‘. Dick and Danny Torrance bond together over shared telepathic abilities. He is a member of the Derry community during the same timeline as the show ‘Welcome to Derry‘. The revelations and prior connections in the books point to the fact that fans are going to witness Dick Hallorann playing a major role in the upcoming series.
Related: When Exactly Does ‘Welcome To Derry’ Happen In The World Of Stephen King’s ‘It’?
According to Andy Muschietti, who oversaw the previous two ‘It‘ films, “What I want the audience to feel is that everything they know about It is just the tip of the iceberg.“
This means that the show’s producers are trying to delve deeper into the Stephen King-verse as they bring forth new stories in the upcoming show.
The History Of Dick Hallorann And Derry
It is not the first time that fans will witness Dick Hallorann’s character on live screens. He was played by Melvin Van Peebles in the ‘The Shining‘ miniseries by ABC. Additionally, in 2019, Carl Lumbly played the character as the ghost of Dick Hallorann in the ‘Doctor Sleep’ adaptation.
Dick Hallorann is the co-founder of the Black Spot bar, becoming a part of Derry’s history. He used his Shining Ability to save the survivors when white supremacist groups burnt down the bar. Among the survivors is Will Hanlon, the father of Mike Hanlon. Mike went on to become a member of the Loser’s Club in ‘It.’ The show has confirmed that they are going to adapt this incident in the live-action.
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Chalk has also warned that the younger version of Hallorann is going to be a shocker for the casual viewers, who are accustomed to his nice persona. ‘Dick thinks all of these are corny. He doesn’t respect a single one of them, and that’s the journey of Dick‘. He went on to say, ‘The Dick you know is super nice … Good luck with this Dick.‘
Chalk refused to dive further into his role as Hallorann but gave some cues about his character’s internal struggles with the fear of losing control. He also hinted that Dick made a huge mistake before Derry, and he is trying to mitigate the consequences of the same.
The upcoming show, ‘Welcome to Derry‘ makes big promises about connecting the ‘It‘ films to the Stephen King novels and introducing a wider world-building. So far, it seems like they are on the right track by adding the story of an important character as the main plot for their show. Until then, fans can only speculate further about the show and how far it is going to explain the Stephen King-verse.
