IT: Welcome to Derry - Every Stephen King reference and hidden easter egg you probably missed in Episode 1

The 53-minute-long IT: Welcome to Derry pilot built up a group of five protagonists throughout the episode, only to kill three of them, leaving only two survivors. Moreover, the episode is filled with easter eggs and references to the IT novel, the wider Stephen King world, and at one point even to the DC Universe. Thus, it has a lot of things that should appeal to the fans who know the lore.

"As four misfit kids vow to find their missing classmate, Major Leroy Hanlon arrives to a mixed reception at Derry Air Force Base."

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Stephen King, IT: Welcome to Derry episode 1 easter eggs:

Here are some of the most noticeable references to the IT: Welcome to Derry pilot:

• Ya Got Trouble

The song "Ya Got Trouble" from the 1962 movie The Music Man is prominently featured in the IT: Welcome to Derry premiere. The episode especially accentuates the background characters chanting "Trouble, Trouble, Trouble". It plays early in the episode as Matty Clements is watching The Music Man in the theater.

The same song and scene are played in the closing minutes of the episode as Lilly, Suzie, Teddy, Phil, and Ronnie Grogan try to investigate what happened to Matty. Only Ronnie and Lilly survive the end of the episode.

• Dick Hallorann

IT: Welcome to Derry finally adapts a Stephen King trope that no adaptation has included: the wider Stephen King Universe. It was common for other characters from other books to appear in a King Novel. One such crossover that's confirmed is that of The Shining's Dick Hallorann having a small role in the IT book. He was in Derry twenty years before taking up the head chef role at the Overlook Hotel.

In IT, Dick Hallorann saved the lives of African-American veterans from the burning bar The Black Spot using his "Shining" abilities. The Bar was burnt by racists, but Hallorann felt a more sinister presence in this attack (Pennywise). Thus, IT: Welcome to Derry may finally confirm that Hallorann is one of the few adults to Pennywise because of his Shining ability.

In the Welcome to Derry, Chris Chalk plays the role of a younger Dick Hallorann. When Chalk was asked if he looked at Scatman Crothers (Kubrick’s The Shining), Melvin Van Peebles (1997 Shining miniseries), and Carl Lumbly (Doctor Sleep) performances, the actor told io9:

“In order to create and manifest this version of Dick Halloran, I did observe those performances, but I didn’t—’study’ is too strong a word, because that’s not what we’re doing,” Chalk said. “If we were doing Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in 2025, then I’m going to study that performance in a different way, but all I have to do is see who he is now and break him down backwards to who he was in an earlier time, and then it becomes about creative freedom and the text. So it’s awesome to have all of these options of people who’ve had their versions of the performance, but just as they had their version, I knew I was going to get my version. Nobody asked me to mimic anybody.”

• Teddy

One of the characters the marketing department built up as a protagonist, but ended up dying, is Teddy. We learn that Teddy's last name is Uris, making him related to Stanley Uris, who is one of the members of the Losers Club. He is the younger brother of Donald Uris, who would go on to become Stanley's father. Teddy's death in the episode explains his absence in the 2017 movie, which is set in 1988.

Stanley is not the only Loser that Welcome to Derry sets up, though.

• Alvin Marsh

Lilly is one of the girls that the marketing campaign built up as a protagonist. She is the first to be haunted by Pennywise, where she hears Matty's voice, with whom she was close. The next morning at school, she tells her only friend, Marge, about hearing Matty. This prompts Marge to drag Lilly into one of the stalls in the girls' bathroom.

Inside this stall, we see a heart drawn with the name "Alvin Marsh". For the uninitiated, this is none other than Stanley's fellow Loser, Beverley Marsh's abusive father. Since IT: Welcome to Derry is set in 1962, Alvin is probably in the same school.

• Leroy Hanlon

We meet three of the Losers' ancestors in this Welcome to Derry episode. Air Force officer Mike Hanlon's paternal grandfather, Leroy Hanlon, is stationed in Derry for a secret mission. In the premiere episode, he is waiting for his wife and son, who haven't arrived yet. We also learn that he doesn't feel fear because of an injury, an interesting dynamic for the cursed town.

• Turtle

Much like the 2017 and 2019 IT movies, one of the common things to appear in the episode is a turtle. While turtles in this franchise may not have significance for casual fans, book readers will know what it means. The 1990s miniseries, and even the 2017 and 2019 movies, ignored Maturin the turtle; the book explains one of the most common criticisms of IT adaptations: "Why does Pennywise not kill the Losers as kids?"

The book reveals that Ben, Bill, Stanley, Eddie, Richie, Mike, and Beverley are protected by the cosmic entity Maturin the turtle, who is also Pennywise's nemesis. It is because of Maturin's protection that Pennywise can terrorize them but can not kill them. While the 2017 and 2019 movies ignore this angle, they had shout-outs to Maturin, with turtle toys on screen.

IT: Welcome to Derry continues this tradition by having a scene in which Lilly has a turtle pendant.

• Batman and The Flash Comics

Teddy is revealed to be a geek who reads comics, and therefore IT: Welcome to Derry has scenes featuring two DC Universe icons, The Flash and Batman. Teddy's conservative Jewish father picks up the former's Flash comic and slams it on the table, admonishing the child for reading it. The copy that the Uris patriarch is holding is The Flash #123, which is the first comic to establish the concept of the multiverse.

The inclusion of this specific comic book has some fans hopeful that IT: Welcome to Derry will finally touch upon the other concept that Stephen King's books dabble in, the multiverse. While King's The Dark Tower books dabble in the wider parallel realities, both Maturin the turtle and Pennywise are cosmic entities linked to the Stephen King multiverse. Plus, this might also be a reference to Andy Muschietti's connection to the Scarlet Speedster.

The Flash #123 is not the only classic DC comic book to appear in the IT: Welcome to Derry premiere. The Batman comic, Detective Comics #298, which was published in 1961, like The Flash #123, also appeared in the very next scene. The cover of Detective Comics #298 sees The Dark Knight and his trusted sidekick Robin battling the shape-shifting supervillain Clayface. This is a mere reference to Pennywise being a shape-shifter, too.

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Let us know if you think that we missed some easter-eggs in the IT: Welcome to Derry premiere.