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HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry is a captivating prequel not only to Stephen King’s It but also intertwines with the universe of King’s The Shining. In the second episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, viewers are officially introduced to a significant character from The Shining, who made a subtle appearance driving a military jeep in the premiere episode.
**Spoiler Alert: Details from Episode 2 of IT: Welcome to Derry are revealed below, now available on HBO Max**
The latest episode reveals that Perry Mason actor Chris Chalk portrays a younger version of Dick Hallorann, a character famously brought to life by Scatman Crothers in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film The Shining and by Carl Lumbly in Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep.
In The Shining, Dick Hallorann is the Overlook Hotel’s chef, who guides Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and Danny Torrance (played by Danny Lloyd) through the hotel’s kitchens while detailing its operations. Hallorann possesses telepathic abilities he refers to as “the shine,” which allows him to communicate with Danny. He shares with Danny that both people and places can possess this “shine,” cautioning him that the hotel itself does, due to its grim history.
Dick Hallorann also appears in Stephen King’s It. The novel describes a horrific event during Pennywise’s (portrayed by Bill Skarsgård) previous reign of terror when a racial massacre in Derry led to the destruction of a bar called the Black Spot. Hallorann founded this bar for local Black soldiers, and during the tragedy, he used his shining abilities to rescue some survivors. This event is pivotal to the storyline of IT: Welcome to Derry‘s first season.
Episode 2 of IT: Welcome to Derry delves deeper into Dick Hallorann’s presence in Derry. He is involved with General Shaw’s (played by James Remar) Operation Precept, a military initiative with the bizarre goal of harnessing the enigmatic force known as “It” as a Cold War weapon. Hallorann’s supernatural gifts are employed in the mission to locate Pennywise.
“We look at this show as so many things, but one of them certainly is a Dick Hallorann origin story,” IT: Welcome to Derry co-showrunner Jason Fuchs told DECIDER. “You’re seeing him in an earlier moment in his life and in his journey. He’s not the man you meet in The Shining. He doesn’t have control over his abilities yet in the way that he one day will.”
“And the Dick Halloran that we meet in The Shining, the one we all know and love, is a mentor. You know, his story exists to guide, you know, to guide Danny Torrance, essentially,” IT: Welcome to Derry co-showrunner Brad Caleb Kane said. “But the Dick Hallorann that we meet in Welcome to Derry, he exists for Dick alone.”
IT: Welcome to Derry star Chris Chalk revealed that the best part of playing the young version of Dick Hallorann was that he wasn’t the sweet man we meet in The Shining.
“Dick’s not nice,” Chris Chalk said. “This version of him, he’s not nice. He’s a dick, you know what I mean? The way he is willing to weasel through things is different.”
“As he gets older and more mature… One, he has a better control over his power, but he’s learned how to isolate himself correctly. Dick’s way of isolating is to, like, actively hurt or push people [away] when he’s younger,” Chalk said. “So it’s fun to play a more like antagonist [version of the character]. Since I’m antagonistic, it’s cool to bring that antagonism to Dick.”
We’ll learn more about Dick Hallorann and how he evolved into the sweet guy we know and love from King’s other works in the weeks ahead on HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry.
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