Why you need to watch The Shining before It: Welcome to Derry

With It: Welcome to Derry able to debut on HBO and HBO Max, chances are you’ll be questioning what to look at forward of the prequel present. Sure, it’s value revisiting collection co-creator Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter 2 movies. Surprisingly, although, that is not a very powerful Stephen King adaptation to take a look at earlier than you compromise in for this frightful new collection.

Whereas Welcome to Derry is a prequel to the It movies, there are additionally Easter eggs and nods to different corners of King’s universe of tales. An important one, although, is way over a fast reference. As a substitute, it is one of many present’s essential characters.

Chris Chalk (Gotham) stars here as Dick Hallorann, a reputation King followers are seemingly accustomed to, although not from any adaptation of It. As a substitute, Hallorann is a significant character in The Shining, each King’s authentic story and the Stanley Kubrick film, the place he’s performed by Scatman Crothers. In that story, Hallorann introduces us to the idea of the Shining, the telepathic powers he shares with the younger Danny Torrance in that movie.

This isn’t only a gimmick for the HBO present. Hallorann pops up a number of occasions in King’s novels. In It (the e book), he performs a minor function within the historical past of Derry as informed by flashbacks. (He additionally reveals up in Physician Sleep, King’s direct sequel to The Shining, which was tailored by Mike Flanagan right into a film the place the character is portrayed by Carl Lumbly.)

What the artistic crew of Welcome to Derry has accomplished is honor how Halloran is drawn in King’s It novel, whereas increasing on it to make him an integral piece of the story. Not like the sensible, middle-aged chef meet in The Shining, the Halloran in It: Welcome to Derry is a younger military cook dinner who would not but perceive his personal powers. He is tasked by the navy with monitoring the entity often known as It, stretching the restrict of his talents. It is a main distinction with the Dick we knew from his function on the Overlook Lodge in The Shining, which takes place roughly 44 years later. (We did the maths and in It‘s continuity, The Shining occurs in 2006. Danny Torrance is Gen Z on this world.)

You would possibly even say King deliberate it like this. It was initially revealed in 1986, nearly a decade after the discharge of The Shining novel (1977) and 6 years after Kubrick’s film hit theaters in 1980. King knew the place Halloran’s life would wind up, and used It to sketch out the character’s backstory.

Watching The Shining earlier than dipping into Welcome to Derry affords the same expertise. It makes each scene Halloran seems in imply a lot extra, because it not solely supplies a fuller image of this character however can be a superb illustration of how highly effective It’s. We all know the evil power primarily for tormenting youngsters, so seeing a grown man with powers like Hallorann trembling in concern hits rather a lot deeper.

So when you’re on the lookout for a technique to put together for Welcome to Derry‘s Sunday debut on HBO, skip It and It: Chapter 2. As a substitute, head over to HBO Max and stream The Shining. (Or learn the e book when you want.). No matter you do, although, simply do not watch the King-produced miniseries adaptation of The Shining. It is horrible.