HBO’s Pennywise prequel Welcome to Derry could reference or depict moments from Stephen King’s books that the IT movies left out. With the increasing popularity of horror TV shows, HBO announced in March 2022 that they would make a prequel to the movies IT and IT: Chapter Two called Welcome to Derry. Since then, news about Welcome to Derry has continued to come out, increasing the hype surrounding the project.

Set in the 1960s, Welcome to Derry will continue to develop the story and lore surrounding It, the shapeshifting alien who often takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Without the bounds of the Losers Club, the HBO series could take the story in many directions. The most exciting possibility for Welcome to Derry would include the show adapting many moments from Stephen King’s books that didn’t fit into the two movies. Some book events were briefly referenced with a line or visual, but they could be explore in much more depth than what’s shown.

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Maturin The Turtle

Maturin Is It’s Enemy In The IT Book

One important character from Stephen King’s IT book that the movies left out is Maturin the Turtle. The cosmic being lived in the macroverse and vomited out the mainstream universe when he had a stomach ache. Maturin and It are known adversaries who both came from the macroverse void, leading the turtle to assist the Losers Club as kids in taking down their enemy.

While the Losers Club won’t appear in Welcome to Derry, the series could still introduce the cosmic being and his conflict with It. This would help with world-building and expanding the lore, providing background on the monster It’s origins. Maturin could try to intervene with his enemy’s inevitable murder spree. This could also help connect Welcome to Derry with the upcoming Dark Tower series. Maturin is one of the guardians of the Beams that uphold the dark tower.

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The Fire At The Black Spot

White Supremacists Burnt Down The Black Spot Nightclub

One of the most obvious book moments to include in Welcome to Derry is the fire at the Black Spot, a nightclub started by Mike Hanlon’s dad that’s a safe space for Black soldiers. The club is destroyed by a white supremacist group called the Maine Legion of White Decency. This event in King’s book is important because the burning of the Black Spot, along with Adrian Mellon’s murder, shows how It uses real-life evils like racism and homophobia to create the fear on which he feeds.

The 2017 IT movie briefly alludes to this event, but they never delve into it further than a small reference. In the movie, the Black Spot burned down in 1962. HBO’s Welcome to Derry is set in the 1960s, so it would make sense to at least mention, if not show, this event. This would also connect the series to the Civil Rights Movement, which was happening in the United States during this period.

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The Bradley Gang Shooting

The Bradley Gang Was Murdered By Derry Residents

If HBO’s Welcome to Derry chooses to include the burning of the Black Spot, the show could also include the shooting of the Bradley Gang. Whenever It awakens and goes into hibernation, a violent event occurs in Derry, Maine. The shooting and murder of the Bradley Gang was the event that awakened It less than a year before the Black Spot fire.

The residents of Derry assembled and ambushed the Bradley Gang – a group of bandits who stopped in the town to buy ammo. The town murders them and just pretends that nothing happened. This is recounted to Mike by Norbert Keene, the owner of the drug store who witnessed the event and saw It. If HBO’s Welcome to Derry wants to connect the two events like they are in the book, they’ll need to move the Bradley Gang shooting into the 1960s. Alternatively, they can keep the event in 1929 and reference it as something historical that occurred in the town.

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The Axe Murders At The Silver Dollar

A Man Hacked Up Five People In The Silver Dollar Bar

An interesting event that HBO’s Welcome to Derry could include is the axe murders committed by Claude Heroux at the Silver Dollar bar in September 1905. Heroux’s three friends were murdered – presumably under the influence of It, though this isn’t confirmed – while trying to organize a union. Heroux was the only person to survive the attack. He became distant and angry, setting multiple fires. Months later, he went into the Silver Dollar bar and hacked five men into pieces with a woodman’s double-bitted axe.

Heroux didn’t try to leave or resist arrest. Moreover, none of the patrons reacted to the brutal murders, continuing with their usual activities. The only unknown person recognized in the bar was Pennywise the Dancing Clown, implying that Pennywise was involved in the incident. The axe murders might not be in the right time period to appear on Welcome to Derry, but the show can always reference the event to establish Derry’s dark history.

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The Battle Of Wills

Welcome To Derry Could Include Part Of The Original Ritual of Chüd

The Ritual of Chüd in IT: Chapter Two looks vastly different from what’s shown in the book. The ritual in Stephen King’s novel involves It and the opposing person biting down on each other’s tongues. The enemies of It then use jokes and the power of belief to attack the monster. Ultimately, this battle comes down to humor and imagination versus hatred and evil.

Admittedly, the change in the Ritual of Chud makes some sense. The concept of biting down on tongues wouldn’t translate well to the screen because it’s even challenging to imagine while reading. However, HBO’s Welcome to Derry could include the battle of wits, changing the name because the movie already used the original name. The basic principle of the book moment is still effective and tracks with the eventual defeat of Pennywise.

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The Markson Familicide

It Possessed John Markson In 1851

Another moment from the Stephen King book that the writers of HBO’s Welcome to Derry could include to build the lore and history of Derry. In 1851, It possessed a man named John Markson, who was used as a puppet for chaos and violence. Markson obtained the lethal mushroom nightshade and poisoned his entire family, causing them to die while experiencing unspeakable pain. After their deaths, he arranged the bodies in a circle and sat in the middle, eating the poison until he died, too.

This event in Derry’s history is one of the earliest examples of It taking joy in exerting his ability to control others. He later possesses Henry Bowers, as shown in the IT movies. The Markson familicide would be a great choice for the writers to include or reference in Welcome to Derry because the event only has one paragraph in the Stephen King book, giving the creative team plenty of room to create a story mostly from scratch.

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The 1740 Derry Massacre

It Massacred The Settlers Of Derry

The movie IT briefly alludes to the fact that the first settlers of Derry, Maine disappeared without a trace. Ben mentions that Derry started as a beaver hunting camp, and 91 people went missing, with only bloody clothes remaining to indicate what happened. In the book, around 340 people at the Derry settlement went missing, leaving a ghost town. Despite the number of people killed, the residents of Derry don’t talk about the massacre.

HBO’s IT prequel series can expand upon this story, showing that It’s rampage started about two and a half centuries before the events of both Welcome to Derry and IT. They could also use this as an example of how It influences the minds of Derry citizens. Because of the time period, the 1740 massacre could appear in a flashback, or characters could discuss the event.

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It’s Monster Forms

It Takes On The Appearance Of Movie Monsters In Stephen King’s Book

One unfortunate part of changing the timeframe for IT and IT: Chapter Two is the removal of the movie monsters that appeared in Stephen King’s IT. In the book, the titular shapeshifting alien takes the form of many classic movie monsters, like the giant tentacled eyeball from The Trollenberg Tower, the bird from Rodan, and the werewolf from I Was A Teenage Werewolf. These choices fit the fears that would be appropriate for kids in the late 1950s.

However, the monsters would not have the same impact on the movie version of Losers Club because the films take place in 1989 and 2017. Luckily, the Pennywise prequel series has the chance to include these book moments because the series is set in the 1960s. The movies, which mostly came out in 1958, would be close enough to the start of Welcome to Derry that kids might still be afraid of them.

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Jake Epping Traveling To Derry

Jake Epping Spends Time In Derry, Maine In 11/22/63

In addition to incorporating events from the IT book, Welcome to Derry could explore Stephen King’s short stories and books. A great choice for the HBO show would be 11/22/63, King’s sci-fi book about a man named Jake Epping traveling through time to stop JFK’s assassination. While the books are vastly different in tone and focus, 11/22/63 includes a direct connection to IT.

Epping travels to Derry in 1958 as a trial to see if he can change history by saving a man named Harry Dunning’s family from being murdered. He instinctively hates the place despite lacking any knowledge about the evil monster there. There’s no specific reason why Harry’s family has to be killed that year, so the HBO show Welcome to Derry could twist 11/22/63’s timeline slightly, having the character appear in the early 1960s.

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Dave Streeter Making A Deal With George Elvid

Welcome To Derry Could Confirm It’s Connection To George Elvid

The novella Fair Extension by Stephen King would be the best choice to include in HBO’s Welcome to Derry because there’s an obvious connection that is never fully explored in writing. The main focus of Fair Extension is the Faustian bargain between a man named Dave Streeter, who lives with terminal lung cancer, and a stranger named George Elvid, who has lived for centuries. Elvid grants him fifteen more years if he transfers his misfortunes onto someone he hates.

Considering the story is set in Derry, it seems like a given that George Elvid is actually an alias of the titular monster. After all, two unrelated immortal, magical beings existing in the same small town seems odd and unrealistic. The novella plot could even tie into events from IT like the Black Spot, with Dave Streeter putting his bad luck onto Mike Hanlon’s father. This would make it easier for Welcome to Derry to incorporate both stories.