‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Halloween special brings a key Stephen King character to screen
Derry apparently had one more Halloween story tucked away. The ‘It’ franchise has spent two films and a prequel season digging into the town’s horrors, but its latest chapter reaches back centuries. HBO Max released ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ special ‘A Story of Derry’ on October 31, giving fans an unexpected return between seasons. The roughly 30-minute installment also brings a figure from Stephen King’s mythology into view.
That figure is Maturin, the cosmic turtle whose history connects ‘It’ with King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ books. The special includes references to him and a glimpse of the being, adding another layer to the franchise’s screen mythology. Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise, meanwhile, does not appear. The premise heads elsewhere: “Hundreds of years before Pennywise, three youngsters venture into the Western Wood…where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit.”
For viewers unfamiliar with the books, Maturin represents a force opposed to IT. In King’s novel, the Turtle offers Bill Denbrough guidance during his confrontation with the creature, helping him find the resolve to fight. His place in ‘The Dark Tower’ mythology extends further: he is one of 12 Guardians associated with the Beams supporting the Tower. Those details explain the significance of his appearance, though the special’s glimpse does not establish that every part of his literary history applies to the television adaptation.
The special also puts a face to another part of Derry’s past. Zahn McClarnon plays the Indigenous warrior who created the dagger that IT fears, revealing the person behind a weapon already woven into the series. That discovery builds on the Shokopiwath tribe’s history introduced in Season 1’s fourth episode. Rather than returning to the town’s 1962 residents, the story follows the people who encountered its threat generations earlier.
Episode four had explored why IT could not leave Derry, making the dagger and the tribe’s knowledge part of the explanation for the creature’s confinement. ‘A Story of Derry’ expands that account through the weapon’s creation and the warrior responsible for it. Its opening title card establishes that the earlier account did not contain the whole story. The special revisits that history with events left out of the version passed down to children.
Tazbah Chavez directs the special, written by Cherie DiMaline and Jasmyne Flournoy. Alongside McClarnon, the cast includes Kimberly Guerrero, Kiawentiio and Morningstar Angeline. Isabel Deroy-Olson, Michael Podemski-Bedard and Thosh Collins also star. HBO and HBO Max announced the release through their social channels.
‘It: Welcome to Derry: A Story of Derry’ is streaming on HBO Max, while the main series has already been renewed for Season 2. That installment will move back to 1935 and explore the Bradley Gang massacre. Season 1 took place in 1962, before the events of the films. Brad Caleb Kane will serve as sole showrunner for the next season.
