Strap on your dancing shoes and float on down to Derry, the home of everyone’s favourite killer clown. Yep, Pennywise is back in a new prequel series titled IT: Welcome To Derry, which expands on the creepy lore that author Stephen King first established in 1986’s IT novel.
Developed by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, all of whom worked on the recent IT movie adaptations, Welcome To Derry ties into that story by bringing back Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise and key locations such as 29 Neibolt Street.
But there’s also plenty more connective tissue between these stories and the wider multiverse that King established long before the MCU had a go at it on screen.
The inclusion of Dick Hallorann, who famously debuted on screen in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, is perhaps the most obvious link to King’s other projects (although locations such as Shawshank State Prison and Juniper Hill psychiatric hospital are referred to throughout as well).
Yet beyond all this and even the usual Pennywise iconography (think red balloons and grimy sewers), there’s one Easter Egg in particular which binds everything together — and it’s super freaky weird in a way that King adaptations rarely dare to acknowledge.
I am, of course, referring to the turtle. The what now? Yes, the turtle. Those laid back aquatic reptiles who are most famous for their shells and saying things like “cowabunga” (assuming Finding Nemo is to be believed).
What is the turtle easter egg in Welcome to Derry?
Although plenty of you might have been distracted by Pennywise and the sheer scale of his forehead, longtime fans of Stephen King probably noticed at least a couple of references to turtles throughout IT chapters one and two, including Bill’s LEGO turtle, Beverley’s turtle sticker in her book, and when the kids randomly meet one in the quarry.
Similar turtle references also appear in Welcome To Derry. In the first episode alone, I already spotted one on Lilly’s bracelet and an educational turtle mascot named Bert who advises students to duck and cover if nuclear war kicks off. And that’s just what I spotted on first viewing.
Without spoiling anything, a turtle shell also plays an important role later down the line in connection with Pennywise’s origin story, and I’m sure there are plenty more turtle references still to come in the remaining episodes I’m yet to see.
So what gives? Did a turtle rescue Stephen King from drowning as a kid? Does the team at HBO have a turtle fetish? Not as far as I’m aware of. No, the real reason behind all these endless turtle references is actually far stranger.
The significance of the turtle in Stephen King works
As previously mentioned, everything King has ever written is connected in one huge overarching story. And in this story, a cosmic turtle of ancient significance just so happens to be God. Well, not God as we understand it… Ok, let me explain.
Before the universe was created, there existed a giant turtle named Maturin. He was kind and gentle and a bit lazy by some accounts too, often withdrawn inside his shell where he’d endlessly sleep the day away.
Cosmic reptiles of unfathomable power… they’re just like us!
On one of the rare occasions he did poke his head out, Maturin had a stomachache. Because of this tummy upset, Maturin vomited out what would go on to become the mainstream universe where all of King’s writing is set today. But within the “Macroverse” that existed long before this vomit world did, there also lived an evil entity in the void, which we would come to know as IT.
These two adversaries were polar opposites in every way, yet IT, aka Pennywise, refers to Maturin as his “brother” at one point in the book. He also says the turtle is old, lazy and stupid, which feels somewhat pointed.
How a clown and a turtle ended up as cosmic bros is neither here nor there. What’s important is that Maturin rarely involves himself with humans in the same way that IT does, choosing instead to spectate from the sidelines. Maybe he is lazy, after all. Yet in the first half of the book, Maturin does speak to a young Bill Denbrough during the Ritual of Chüd in 1958, assuring him that IT is actually afraid of Bill, human potential, and even the Turtle himself.
Said ritual is essentially a psychic battle of wills and the key to defeating Pennywise, in case you’re wondering.
Thanks to Maturin and his words of encouragement, Bill is able to briefly beat IT and force the dancing clown back into hiding. Yet when the Losers face their foe again 27 years later, Pennywise takes great joy in telling a now adult Bill that Maturin died choking on a galaxy since they last spoke.
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How a cosmic turtle that threw up the entire universe chokes on a measly galaxy is beyond us, although when the Ritual of Chüd started again in 1985, Bill did see proof of this in the form of Maturin’s gargantuan corpse. Still, it could have all been a trick played on him by Pennywise.
How the turtle has been adapted for King’s work on screen
If this all sounds absolutely batshit, it’s because you’re right. It is. You can probably see why Muschietti and the team behind both IT movies avoided depicting the turtle in full on screen. Still, the Easter eggs were a nice touch, and their subtlety actually lend itself rather well to this idea of Maturin being an omnipresent force for good in this world.
Speaking to Thrillist, Muschietti expanded on that approach saying:
“I didn’t want to introduce The Turtle as it’s described in the book, because in the book there are speculative descriptions of what the Macroverse is — the other dimension where It comes from and where the turtle lives. But I did want to hint at the presence of the turtle in this movie, as a force of good that’s basically trying to protect the kids.”
“For people who don’t know the story at all, The Turtle goes completely unnoticed… But I didn’t want to leave The Turtle completely out, because I think it’s a hint for further exploration in the second part.”
While the turtle didn’t end up waddling around IT: Chapter II in any tangible way, he continues to make his presence known in Welcome To Derry, and Muschietti’s hinted that this will develop more as the series continues.
In a new interview with TV Insider, Muschietti explained:
“The purpose of the show, among others, is to open a window to the other side and give the audience the feeling that everything they know about the book and stories and movies is just the tip of the iceberg… In this series, there will be more than speculation. We’re gonna have that and give the audience glimpses of the other side.”
Does that mean Maturin will eventually show up in the (scaly) flesh? Quite possibly. With more time to flesh the story out, Welcome To Derry is free to get even freakier than the movies ever could. Pennywise and his dancing shoes have got nothing on this cosmic turtle who may or may not have IBS.
IT: Welcome To Derry is out now on HBO/HBO Max in the US and Sky/Now in the UK. New episodes roll out in America on Sundays at 9pm ET/6pm PT, and on Mondays at 2am GMT in the UK for streaming (airing on Sky later that evening).
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via IT: Welcome To Derry has the weirdest Stephen King Easter eggs you’ll ever see