The Best WELCOME TO DERRY Stephen King Easter Eggs and Pop Culture References

Welcome to Derry, everyone. The premiere of this IT sequel series is finally here and whoa does it take you on quite the wild ride in a little less than an hour. In it, we meet a few kids in 1962 Derry, Maine, some of whom do not fare well from jump street. IT: Welcome to Derry doesn’t shy away from the horror and legit scary moments, and it also makes sure to pack in quite a few Easter eggs, connections to the larger Stephen King universe, and pop culture references of the era, and we think these are the best ones.

Meet the Hanlons and a Young Dick Hallorann 

Of course, quite a few of the characters in this show are from the books. But some of the most important inclusions are three of the adults. Leroy and Charlotte Hanlon are the parents to Will Hanlon, whose son is Mike Hanlon, a key protagonist from IT. So, Will obviously isn’t going to die because he has to have a son, right? We did see an older Leroy Hanlon in 2017’s IT movie as a minor character and grandfather to Mike Hanlon. Now Charlotte? She may not survive this Pennywise cycle, even though we really want her to.

Dick Hallorann is obviously a character whom many cannot wait to see in Welcome to Derry with a history that both diehard King fans and casual viewers alike are familiar with. He is the character who has the shine in The Shining (both novel and the popular movie) as well as Doctor Sleep. We know how his story ends in The Shining film as he sadly becomes a sacrificial lamb, but this series takes him back to his young military days. Considering his “gift,” we are sure that Pennywise will play on that in some way.

The Music Man’s Troubling Song 

The very first scene of Welcome to Derry takes us into the local theater, where a kid named Matty slipped in to watch The Music Man, a musical film that was released in 1962, without paying. (Does anyone else remember the days when that was much more possible?). The screen is on a specific scene where Robert Preston’s leading character Harold Hill sings about trouble coming to River City. “Ya Got Trouble” is a pointed reference to what’s happening in Derry, where generations of children have had trouble with an entity that preys on their fears. It is a great Easter egg to kick off Welcome to Derry‘s horror.

(Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that The Music Man hit theaters in June 1962 and this episode very pointedly mentions that he’s been missing since January 1962. But we won’t harp on small timeline things like this…)

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Paul Bunyan’s Connection to IT

As Matty is walking down a snowy road, there’s a billboard with a picture of Paul Bunyan, who was born in Derry. In our world, this famed folk hero has a statue in Bangor, Maine, the city that King based Derry off of after living there. Many locations inspired his work, like this statue. In IT: Chapter Two (2019), the Paul Bunyan statue is possessed by Pennywise and it is very, very creepy.

Bert the Turtle and Lilly’s Turtle Charm’s Connection to Maturin

While Lilly walks in the hallway with her best friend, a student is dressed like a turtle in front of a table, telling the others to remember to duck and cover. Bert the Turtle is actually a character from the 1952 civil defense/propaganda film Duck and Cover, which talks about staying safe during a nuclear event. Considering that the US is in the midst of the Cold War, it is not shocking that this would be promoted among school kids.

Also, having a turtle in the show in any fashion (like the turtle charm on Lily’s bracelet) is a nod of sorts to Maturin, a space turtle and one of the guardians of the Bean in King’s The Dark Tower. He’s the opposite of evil Pennywise, and that frightens this chaotic clown to bits. It certainly seems to do Lilly some good considering she didn’t get shredded to bits in the theater…

Phil’s Nerdy Wall 

We are in the room of Phil, a young conspiracy theorist, and he’s quite the sci-fi nerd. Two of the movie posters on his wall were for Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). The first is about a mysterious being and a group of professional people (in this case, scientists) who want to find out what it is. We know that the military is present in Derry and that Pennywise is lurking somewhere nearby as well. Maybe there will be soldiers who go looking for something strange and find more than what they bargained for. The latter film is, of course, an alien invasion epic, which sounds very adjacent to Pennywise’s overall origin story of a being that came to Earth. We will surely get more specifics on that origin story soon.

Teddy’s DC Comics Nod to Pennywise

In the series, young Teddy Uris (the uncle of Stanley Uris in the original It), is a big comic book fan. We see him reading two DC Comics in particular—1961’s The Flash #123 and Detective Comics #298. We could see this as a shoutout to Muschietti’s previous work for Warner Bros., 2023’s The Flash, since that movie featured both Flash and Batman.

However, the story in that Flash comic, “The Flash of Two Worlds,” initiated the DC Multiverse. And the Batman story introduced the second villainous Clayface, who could change shape, kind of like Pennywise. Alternate universes and shapeshifting villains feel very Pennywise to us.

Welcome to Famous Downtown Derry Locations 

There’s a brief scene panning the main street in downtown Derry, and a couple of businesses are recognizable. There’s Bangor Chew, a tobacco store that nods to the city of Bangor, and Jade Orient Chop Suey Chinese Restaurant, which is a place in the IT novel where a Losers’ Club reunion happens. There’s also Machen’s sporting goods, which is likely a nod to Arthur Machen, a writer who had a profound influence on King. That’s also the name of a store that is in one of IT’s written interludes, making it yet another Derry Easter egg.

“Theme from a Summer Place”

This 1959 tune from the film A Summer Place that plays while Charlotte Hanlon walks down the very white streets of Derry is interesting. The song is symbolic of (white) mid-America easy listening, yet she’s incredibly aware of her surroundings and intense in contrast.