New Stephen King TV Show Sets Up a Character Stronger Than Pennywise (With Major Dark Tower Connections)

Even before its premiere, the creative team behind IT: Welcome to Derry promised the series would expand its mythology beyond Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård). The trailers already underlined this by featuring Dick Hallorann, a pivotal character from The Shining, and including visual nods to the infamous Shawshank State Penitentiary. This commitment to a wider world was reinforced in Welcome to Derry‘s very first episode, which was filled with subtle Easter eggs and references for dedicated fans. One recurring symbol points directly to the introduction of a cosmic force far more powerful than Pennywise and central to Stephen King’s entire literary multiverse.

 Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 1

The premiere episode of IT: Welcome to Derry leaves behind a deliberate trail of turtles. This symbol is first introduced through the specific historical context of 1962, when the “duck and cover” safety films featuring the cartoon character Bert the Turtle tried to address people’s Cold War paranoia and fear of nuclear holocaust. The series reinforces this imagery with one child even dressing as Bert while distributing flyers. The same symbol returns in a flashback, where Matty (Miles Ekhardt) gives a turtle pendant to his friend Lilly (Clara Stack) as a good luck charm just before his disappearance. This deliberate repetition is a direct reference to Maturin, the ancient and benevolent cosmic entity who stands as the natural enemy of the malevolent being known as It.

Who Is Maturin, the Turtle, In Stephen King’s Books?

In Stephen King’s multiverse, Maturin is one of the twelve Guardians of the Beams, ancient entities tasked with protecting the six energy conduits that hold up the Dark Tower, the literal center of all creation. According to the lore, Maturin existed long before our universe in a void called the Macroverse, alongside his cosmic opposite, the creature known as It or Pennywise. While It is a being of pure consumption, chaos, and destruction that feeds on fear, Maturin represents creation, kindness, and order. Legend states that our universe was created when Maturin had a stomachache and vomited it into existence, accidentally carrying It along in the process.

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This origin establishes Maturin and It as eternal adversaries, two opposing forces locked in a fundamental conflict. In the It novel, Maturin acts as a crucial ally to the Losers’ Club. Though he rarely intervenes directly, he provides Bill Denbrough with the knowledge and guidance needed to understand how to combat Pennywise through a psychic confrontation known as the Ritual of Chüd. Furthermore, as a Guardian of the Beam, Maturin’s existence is fundamentally tied to the stability of the Dark Tower and, by extension, all realities. His power is far greater than that of Pennywise, who is essentially a parasite feeding on one of his creations.

Is Maturin Showing Up in IT: Welcome to Derry?

The decision to so prominently feature turtle imagery in the first episode strongly suggests that IT: Welcome to Derry intends to explore the more cosmic aspects of Pennywise’s origins. To properly explain where the creature came from, the series must inevitably engage with concepts like the Macroverse and the Todash space, the formless void between worlds from which many of King’s horrors emerge. This provides Welcome to Derry the perfect opportunity to formally introduce Maturin, moving him from a symbolic reference to an active mythological element within the show’s universe. The creators have already confirmed the series shares a universe with The Dark Tower, explicitly naming the Turtle as a guardian, so Maturin could play a bigger role in future episodes.

By establishing Maturin’s presence, even if only as a guiding force or through visions, Welcome to Derry can provide a concrete in-universe explanation for Pennywise’s weaknesses and offer a source of hope against such an overwhelming evil. More importantly, Maturin would forge an explicit link between the on-screen adaptations of It and the central mythology of The Dark Tower, which is currently being developed as a TV show by Mike Flanagan. Finally, the introduction of Maturin would not only enrich the backstory of Pennywise but also firmly position Welcome to Derry as a foundational piece of a larger Stephen King screen universe, setting up a cosmic conflict with a being far stronger than the clown.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday. 

Do you think IT: Welcome to Derry will fully introduce Maturin, or will the turtle remain an Easter egg? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!