Is IT: Welcome To Derry setting up a great Stephen King crossover with The Shining?

One of the many joys that comes from being a consistent reader of Stefan King picks up on the various details, locations and characters that reveal a shared universe in the author’s stories. Some are more overtly connected (like the various stories set in Castle Rock, Maine), but others are a bit more devious (like the Overlook Hotel cameo in 2021). Billy Summers). And that doesn’t even include the wide web of… The Dark Tower. Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, these compounds don’t often survive the adaptation process – but now that new details have been revealed about them in the past week the upcoming series IT: Welcome to DerryI hope the show plans something that would be very special for King fans: a link to Stanley Kubrick’s The radiant and Mike Flanagan’s Doctor sleep.

That is the main topic of this week’s new edition The King’s Battlebut with the 40^e anniversary of The talisman Since it’s getting closer, I’ve also made room to wonder what’s going on with the long-developing adaptations. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dive in!

Jovan Adepo in Welcome to Derry and Scatman Crothers in The Shining — (Image credit: HBO)

With certain details about IT: Welcome to Derry confirmed, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an appearance from Dick Halloran

In honor of Halloween last week IT: Welcome to Derry was the subject of a special preview in Entertainment weeklyand while there are many notable things we still don’t know about the 2025 HBO series, some key details have been confirmed. The primary setting will be in 1962 (27 years before the rise of Pennywise in 1989, as shown in IT: Chapter one); Jovan Adepo plays a member of the Hanlon family (presumably William Hanlon, the father of Losers Club member Mike Hanlon); and the show will prominently feature the gruesome story of the Black Spot from Stephen King’s novel.

Filmmakers Andy and Barbara Muschietti described the prequel series in an email to the magazine, writing:

Twenty-seven years is Pennywise’s dormant period. It’s another part of American history with a new set of fears for children, as well as for adults remembering the costs of the Cold War. Our baseline is 1962, but we’ll make a few jumps into the past. Every 27 years, when it appears, the cycle is marked by two catastrophic events, one at the beginning and one at the end. We use the Black Spot as an event around which many stories are built.

If you’ve read Stephen King’s ITThe mention of the Black Spot stands out for two main reasons: 1) it is a terrifying and gruesome chapter in the history of Derry, Maine, in which dozens of people are burned as part of a hate crime, and 2) one of the most important protagonists in the incident are none other than Dick Halloran, who is best known in King Lore as the chef at The Overlook Hotel in The radiant when Jack Torrance is appointed winter caretaker (he is memorably played by Scatman Crothers in the Stanley Kubrick film and Carl Lumbly in Doctor sleep).

In ITthe story of the Black Spot is presented as an excerpt from the diaries of Mike Hanlon, who recounts hearing his father talk about it in his hospital room shortly before he died of cancer. While stationed in Derry in the army, William Hanlon and his fellow black soldiers had to find their own place to drink and relax while off duty (the result of racial segregation in the community), and that conflict led to the founding the Black Spot: a speakeasy that started as a barn and eventually expanded into a full-fledged club with live music and a kitchen.

The Black Spot became a popular meeting place… but its popularity infuriated the white locals. William Hanlon and Dick Halloran – then a private chef and chef – were friends and were among the more than two hundred people at the club the night the local Legion of White Decency arrived in white robes and hoods to set the place on fire. Dick ultimately saves the lives of both William and his friend Trevor Dawson when instinct (probably an example of his ‘seeming’) convinces him to lead them away from what turns out to be a stuck door as the flames grow and panic increases.

In the aftermath of the incident, William witnesses a man being plucked off by a giant bird held by balloons – a revelation of Pennywise’s influence on the hate crime.

Given his prominent role in the book, Dick Halloran would be a natural addition IT: Welcome to Derry – and I will further point out that I use it to create a specific link between IT and that of Stanley Kubrick The radiant/Mike Flanagan‘S Doctor sleep wouldn’t be hampered by rights issues, as all the King adaptations in question here were produced by Warner Bros. There is nothing obvious that this is happening.

To further add to the speculation, I’m already wondering if Dick will be the character portrayed Gotham/Perry Mason‘s Chris Chalk (whose role has not yet been revealed). Looking at the official still of him from the show that was released (embedded below), I can’t help but notice that the name tag on his uniform is blank. Perhaps it’s an attempt by the marketing team to save the reveal of the special connection closer to the series premiere next year? For what it’s worth, the actor would be a tough match age-wise, as Dick is in his late 60s/early 70s. The radiant/Doctor sleep (based on the ages of Scatman Crothers and Carl Lumbly), and Chalk is currently 46.

Chris Chalk in IT: Welcome to Derry

(Image credit: HBO)

In addition to the aforementioned Jovan Adepo and Chris Chalk, IT: Welcome to Derry Also starring James Remar, Taylour Page, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe and Bill Skarsgård, who reprises his role as Pennywise The Dancing Clown. Together with The penguin and the next one Dune: ProphecyThe show is part of an initiative to expand worlds introduced on the big screen to the small screen, and will premiere for HBO and Max subscribers at an as-yet unknown date in 2025.

The Talisman cover

(Image credit: Viking)

The Talisman is about to turn 40. Where is the Netflix series?!

I recognize that now is not the time to complain about the lack of Stephen King adaptations. After all, a brand new project only premiered in October, and there’s a possibility that as many as six new King projects will be released/debut in 2025. That being said, this month marks 40^e anniversary of The talisman – co-written by Stephen King and Peter Straub and originally published in November 1984 – and the milestone inspires me to wonder what’s going on with the streaming series that Constant Readers was promised two and a half years ago.

For those who don’t remember, it was announced in March 2021 that Netflix was adapting it into a series The talisman with Major Stranger things talent on board: namely creators Matt and Ross Duffer as producers and writer/executive producer Curtis Gwinn as showrunner. Since then, however, development has taken on molasses-like properties. This can be at least somewhat attributed to the exceptionally slow process formation Stranger Things Season 5 (now scheduled to premiere in 2025)but the total lack of new information was frustrating nonetheless.

Part of the frustration stems from the fact that Constant Readers have literally waited decades for Hollywood to do something with it The talisman. The novel is one of the few Stephen King books that haven’t yet inspired a film adaptationbut that’s not for lack of trying. Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Entertainment acquired the perpetual rights to the tome when it was first published and although several different versions have been attempted (both for film and television), none have ever managed to reach the point where cameras started rolling .

The talisman tells the story of Jack Sawyer – a young boy who discovers the existence of a fantastic parallel world called The Territories and embarks on a perilous journey to try to obtain a powerful talisman that has the ability to cure his mother of a deadly cancer that kills her. In 2001, Stephen King and Peter Straub came together to write a sequel, Black Houseand although he sadly passed away in 2022 at the age of 79, King recently teased a possible completion of the series as a trilogy. (Maybe the published book will ultimately be the pop culture kick in the pants it finally gets The talisman adaptation made, with the goal of the Netflix show eventually adapting all three novels).

That brings to a close this week’s edition of King Beat, but as always I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend next Thursday with a brand new roundup of the biggest headlines from the world of Stephen King. While you wait for my next column, explore my series Adapt Stephen King – which delves deep into the complete history of King books in film and television.