Will Welcome to Derry Include Nods to Other Stephen King Books? Showrunners Reveal How They’re ‘Weaving Elements’

Cinema Blend

There is no questioning that the most popular story set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine is IT, but any of Stephen King’s committed Constant Readers will tell you that it’s definitely not the author’s only book set in that terrible, dark place. While it doesn’t exist in literature on the same level as Castle Rock, there are a number of other novels and stories that either take place in the dark city or at least visit – with titles including 11.22.63, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, Bag Of Bones, and even The Running Man. Needless to say, the world that King builds is expansive… and it makes one wonder how that reality will be represented in the new HBO series IT: Welcome To Derry.  For that question, showrunners Brad Caleb Kane and Jason Fuchs have an answer. I spoke with the duo earlier this month during the virtual press day for the upcoming Stephen King series, and one topic I asked about was Derry’s considerable representation in the author’s works. The show is principally focused on the story from IT, and the presence of Dick Halloran means that both The Shining and Doctor Sleep are in play, but what about all of those other titles I mentioned above?

Transcript

00:00How deep are you looking into kind of the existence of Derry beyond beyond it?

00:06It's a very good question.

00:0711-22-63 didn't come up, but Insomnia did come up.

00:10And we did talk about weaving elements of Insomnia into into the fabric of the series.

00:16It you know, I don't want to say whether elements of it did or did not make this season.

00:20But we were we were really not looking to make a full Easter egg season.

00:25You know, we wanted to make a complete season with, you know, new characters that you come to care about.

00:30We obviously wanted to, you know, rip the rug out from under the viewer right away in episode one.

00:35So you would feel like nobody is safe.

00:37You know, you're uncertain who you should root for.

00:39But because we're doing long form storytelling, you can dig into character a lot more.

00:43We can make those fears a lot more personal and we can make it a lot more harrowing for the

00:47viewer.

00:48So we really wanted it to be a self-contained thing.

00:50That's not to say that Easter eggs don't abound and it isn't about the Hanlon family and it doesn't exist

00:55in context of the canon of the movies and the themes of the book.

00:58But it exists in and of itself this season.

01:01Yeah.

01:02There are Easter eggs abound.

01:03I think there's stuff in virtually every episode.

01:05I think my favorite one without saying what it is, and I think a lot of people will miss it.

01:10There is a fire starter related Easter egg deep in the season that blink and you miss it.

01:15But I think that's that's one of my favorite buried ones.

01:18Look, I am I am a diehard, you know, I am a constant reader of Uncle Stevie.

01:23We both are.

01:24And I'm I am a Dark Tower fan.

01:28And, you know, if if you hear a thank you sigh in there somewhere in the season, you will know

01:33who to blame.

01:34And you will.

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