How IT: WELCOME TO DERRY brilliantly connects to THE SHINING and expands Stephen King’s universe

One of the things I like most En: Welcome to Derry this is how he weaves different threads from Stephen Kingof the immense literary universe.

The show promised to explore Pennywise’s origins and expand the mythology beyond IT, and it’s already doing so in a big way.

The second episode not only delves into Derry’s disturbing history, but also reveals how the story directly connects to The Shining Oneand the connection is much deeper than a simple Easter egg.

Below are spoilers for episode 2 of IT: Welcome to Derry

The show introduces Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann, the same character who plays a crucial role in King’s The Shining One. At first, his appearance seemed like a fun nod to longtime fans, but episode 2 completely recasts that. It turns out that Hallorann isn’t just passing through, but is at the center of the story’s larger supernatural mystery.

The episode reveals that the US Air Force has a covert operation stationed just outside Derry, codenamed Operation Precept, led by Giacomo Remar as General Francis Shaw. Shaw has discovered that something dark and ancient lives beneath Derry, an entity capable of projecting fear so intense it can shatter even the strongest minds.

Instead of trying to destroy it, Shaw believes he can use it as a weapon. With global tensions rising and the threat of nuclear war looming, the general sees this monstrous power as a potential advantage.

To track down and capture this force, Shaw recruits Hallorann for a very specific reason. In King’s mythology, “the radiance” is a psychic gift, an ability to sense, communicate, and connect with supernatural energies.

It allows those who possess it to see what others cannot, to interact with spirits, and to feel the lingering psychic scars left behind by a great tragedy. Shaw realizes that someone with Hallorann’s gift could actually locate the source of Derry’s evil.

Using his brilliance, Hallorann becomes the military guide through Derry’s haunted landscape. He is drawn to the psychic residue of the violence the city has accumulated over decades, tracing the consequences of Pennywise’s cyclical rampages.

One sequence shows Hallorann leading Shaw’s team to the location of a long-buried car filled with the skeletal remains of mobsters, victims of one of Derry’s past massacres.

As the military maps the monster’s hunting grounds, Hallorann’s experiences have a personal impact. Each encounter with Derry’s darkness tests his strength and deepens his understanding of his gift.

This backstory provides powerful new context for the man we meet later in The Shining, the calm, compassionate mentor who helps young Danny Torrance understand his own psychic abilities. The events in Derry have clearly shaped him, transforming his brilliance from mysterious talent into hard-won wisdom.

By connecting En: Welcome to Derry with The Shining Onethe series is building a unified and interconnected King universe, which is great. These stories have always shared echoes of each other, but now we finally see those threads pulled together on screen in a way that feels both haunting and meaningful.

New episodes of En: Welcome to Derry releases every Sunday on HBO, and if episode 2 is any indication, the horrors of Derry are just starting to unfold.