“IT: Welcome to Derry” (2025) released its second episode early Oct. 31, before its regular broadcasting on HBO and eventual streaming accessibility on HBO Max.
After the demise of Teddy Uris (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) and Susie Malkin (Matilda Legault) by the flying mutant baby monster, the police are quick to investigate and try to pin the murders on Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider).
Hank is a projectionist at Derry’s local movie theater, and his daughter Veronica “Ronnie” Grogan (Amanda Christine) along with Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) were the two sole survivors of the attack by IT. Later on, both Lilly and Ronnie are tormented by IT in some truly disturbing scenes.
Meanwhile, Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) suspects that the group of men who attacked him were Soviet spies in his quarters. Sergeant Masters (Chad Rook), the man who was racist toward Major Hanlon, confesses to orchestrating the ambush and is imprisoned for it.
Major Hanlon later discovers that the attack was actually conducted by General Shaw (James Remar) to test his fear and that he can help the army retrieve a “weapon” located somewhere in Derry that instills mortal fear into anyone. General Shaw relies on Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) to help the army find the weapon.
For non-Stephen King nerds, Dick Hallorann appears in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” (1980), played by Scatman Crothers, and in Mike Flanagan’s “Doctor Sleep” (2019), played by Carl Lumbly.
Major Hanlon’s wife, Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), and younger son Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) find it hard to adjust to living in Derry. They too experience subtle racism from the townsfolk.
Looking to end the case, Chief Clint Bowers (Peter Outerbridge) blackmails Bainbridge, and the police arrest Hank Grogan, believing him to be the one who murdered Uris, Phil Malkin and Susie Malkin. This causes tension between Bainbridge and Ronnie Grogan as a result. Lilly is then sent to a psychiatric hospital named Juniper Hill.
Something that director Andy Muschietti and the rest of the filmmaking crew did for “IT: Welcome to Derry” is how well they plan out and execute the scenes where IT is terrorizing the child characters in the show.
These are on the same level of creativity compared to sequences within the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. The fact that Pennywise the Dancing Clown hasn’t made an appearance yet, and IT is still horrifying to the viewers, is a remarkable achievement.
Each scene with IT takes the proper amount of time and suspense, and when IT does make its presence known, the audience won’t forget the experience the characters just went through.
Speaking of which, all of the actors so far have done excellent jobs playing their roles. The child actors, are very good, especially Stack as Bainbridge. They feel like reel children and aren’t trying to come across as trying to act like adults.
Adepo as Major Hanlon and Paige as Charlotte Hanlon are charming in their own right. They are clearly citizens wanting to feel welcomed by the community, but the town they are in is under the control of a force so evil that they’ll have to do everything in their power so that IT won’t corrupt them.
The inclusion of Hallorann is also a nice touch, too. Fans of “The Shining” (1977) novel and of the film will likely rejoice upon discovering who Chalk plays. What’s interesting about his performance thus far is that it feels the same yet different compared to Crothers’ and Lumbly’s portrayal of the character.
He definitely has the cadence and feeling of Hallorann, yet there’s just enough room for Chalk to do his own thing and not have to be compared to Crothers nor Lumbly. Getting to anticipate how Dick will be further utilized as the show progresses is exciting for the viewers.
