It: Welcome To Derry: What is the objective of Operation Precept? Details revealed

It: Welcome to Derry (Image via YouTube/@hbomax)
It: Welcome to Derry (Image via YouTube/@hbomax)

Stephen King's novel It served as the inspiration for the American supernatural horror television series It: Welcome to Derry. It serves as a prelude to the 2017 and 2019 It movies and will make its HBO debut in October 2025. Developed by Jason Fuchs, Barbara Muschietti, and Andy Muschietti, the show explores the gloomy origins of Derry, Maine, in 1962, when a family moves there under terrifying circumstances.

Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Taylour Paige, and Bill Skarsgård, who reprises his role as Pennywise, are among the cast members. The show has won praise for its acting, atmosphere, and direction, although some critics have criticized it for its pacing and the lack of depth in the characters.

The purpose of effort Precept in It: Welcome to Derry, a covert Cold War military effort, is to locate and utilize a supernatural force—possibly Pennywise—buried underneath Derry. The experiment, directed by General Shaw and involving the brave Major Hanlon, investigates humanity's struggle to overcome fear, with devastating consequences.


More about It: Welcome To Derry and Operation Precept

It: Welcome to Derry's second episode introduces a startling new plot point that connects Derry's eerie past to Cold War paranoia. This subplot centers on Operation Precept, a top-secret military initiative designed to discover a weapon that feeds on fear itself.

"The Thing in the Dark," the episode, opens with General Shaw (James Remar) examining Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo). Shaw acknowledges that Hanlon was attacked in order to assess his condition. Due to a brain injury he suffered during the Korean War, Hanlon is unable to experience fear, which makes him a perfect fit for a task that demands total emotional control.

The existence of effort Precept, a covert effort intended to find a weapon rather than create one—a power hidden far beneath Derry that can kill only by terror—is then disclosed by Shaw in It: Welcome To Derry.

The military team enters a rusted, bone-filled 1930s car while they are still conducting their investigation. Fans of Stephen King knew this to be the car of the Bradley Gang, a group of criminals Pennywise had previously murdered during one of his awakenings. This episode clearly links the narrative to Derry's dreadful past and suggests that the US government has unintentionally invaded Pennywise's territory.

It quickly becomes evident what Operation Precept's true purpose is. General Shaw, also known as Pennywise, believes this creature may be exploited to support the United States during the Cold War. The concept of "weaponizing fear" is reminiscent of Stephen King's past novels, such as The Mist, in which calamity follows military action involving otherworldly forces.

Hanlon is the only soldier capable of dealing with such a presence due of his bravery. Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), the psychic figure from The Shining, helps him by using his "shining" talent to direct the operation. Hallorann's cryptic cautions, however, imply that he is sheltering Hanlon from the truth rather than assisting him in discovering it.

Despite the fact that Operation Precept is not explicitly inspired by King's 1986 novel It, the addition adds to the It: Welcome To Derry's narrative. The Muschiettis have created a story about how humanity's obsession with control may unleash forces beyond its comprehension by combining Cold War tensions with Derry's disastrous past.

Edited by Sohini Biswas