The town of Derry, Maine, has returned to haunt audiences with the premiere of the new prequel series, IT: Welcome to Derry. The show plunges viewers into a new story revolving around the cosmic entity most famously known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Set in 1962, the series explores the cursed town’s history decades before the Losers’ Club ever formed, drawing inspiration from the interludes of Stephen King’s original novel. This 1960s backdrop also allows the series to delve into the historical tragedies that shaped the town, events that were only hinted at in previous adaptations.
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Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 1
The first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry introduces a new generation of children who are hunted by the malevolent force lurking in the town’s sewer system. Among them are close friends Phil (Jack Molloy Legault) and Terry (Mikkal Karim-Fidler) as they grapple with the mysterious disappearance of their schoolmate, Matty (Miles Ekhardt). Phil is a boy fascinated with the cosmos and the idea of alien visitors, and his bedroom is a shrine to his obsession. For instance, during one scene, a poster for the 1956 sci-fi classic Earth vs. Flying Saucers is clearly visible on his wall. The inclusion of this specific film is more than just period-appropriate set dressing, as it serves as a deliberate Easter egg pointing to a real-life connection to author Stephen King.
What’s Stephen King’s Connection to Earth vs. Flying Saucers?
The link between Stephen King and Earth vs. Flying Saucers was detailed by the author himself in the introduction to his 1981 non-fiction book, Danse Macabre. In the book, King recounts how a Saturday matinee screening of the alien invasion movie shaped his understanding of fear and became a cornerstone for his career as a horror writer. He explains that the experience of watching the film was abruptly shattered when the movie stopped, the house lights came up, and the theater manager walked onto the stage, looking visibly nervous. That moment, suspended between the fictional horror on screen and the potential for a real-world catastrophe, created a mixture of awe and terror that King would spend his life trying to replicate in his own writing.
The cause of the interruption was a world-changing historical event. “We sat there in our seats like dummies, staring at the manager,” King wrote. “He looked nervous and sallow—or perhaps that was only the footlights. We sat wondering what sort of catastrophe could have caused him to stop the movie just as it was reaching that apotheosis of all Saturday matinee shows, ‘the good part.’ And the way his voice trembled when he spoke did not add to anyone’s sense of well-being.” The manager’s shaky announcement revealed the true source of fear. “‘I want to tell you,’ he said in that trembly voice, ‘that the Russians have put a space satellite into orbit around the earth. They call it…Spootnik.’”
In that instant, the fantasy of alien invaders from Earth vs. Flying Saucers was powerfully eclipsed by the real-world terror of the Cold War and the launch of Sputnik. The sudden intrusion of a genuine threat into an afternoon of cinematic escapism became a defining moment for the young King. Unsurprisingly, this collision of the mundane and the horrific, and the blending of childhood fantasy with adult anxiety, is the very emotional territory that King would go on to master, making this cinematic reference in Welcome to Derry a clever nod to the master.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.
What other Stephen King Easter eggs are you hoping to see in IT: Welcome to Derry? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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