Bloody Hell, The Shining is Your Pre-Derry Homework – And Here's Why It's Genius
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Forget rewatching Pennywise's films before *It: Welcome to Derry*! This new prequel surprisingly makes *The Shining* essential viewing, introducing a younger Dick Hallorann and deepening the lore of Stephen King's interconnected universe in a truly clever way.
Right, so usually when a new prequel drops, the immediate thought is to binge the originals, yeah? Get all caught up on the lore, remind yourself why you loved (or hated) the last entries. But what if I told you that for the upcoming *It: Welcome to Derry* on HBO, the real prep work isn't revisiting Pennywise's cinematic outings at all? Nah, mate, it's a completely different flavour of King adaptation, and it’s a brilliant, slightly bonkers piece of advice that opens up the whole narrative in a surprisingly deep way.
Original article by Chris Hayner for Polygon.
I've been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared. It turns out, to truly appreciate the dark, unsettling vibes of *Welcome to Derry*, you need to take a detour through the icy, haunted corridors of the Overlook Hotel. That’s right, we’re talking about Stanley Kubrick’s iconic, mind-bending adaptation of *The Shining*.
Now, if you’re a King aficionado, or even just someone who’s seen *The Shining*, the name Dick Hallorann should ring a few bells. He’s the wise, kind chef at the Overlook Hotel, the one who shares a special, almost telepathic connection – what he calls ‘the Shining’ – with young Danny Torrance. He’s the bloke who warns Danny about the hotel’s nasty residents and then, in a truly heroic (and somewhat foolhardy) moment, flies halfway across the country to try and help. A proper legend, that one.
But what does a kindly, psychically-attuned chef from the freezing mountains of Colorado have to do with a creepy clown terrorizing a small town in Maine? Turns out, a whole bloody lot. The creative wizards behind *Welcome to Derry* – including the Muschietti siblings, who gave us the recent *It* films – have pulled a proper magician’s trick, weaving Hallorann directly into the prequel’s main questline, but not as the version we know.
In *Welcome to Derry*, Chris Chalk steps into the role of a much younger Dick Hallorann. Picture this: he’s not the seasoned, all-knowing chef of the Overlook, but rather a green army cook, still figuring out his own burgeoning powers. He’s been tasked by the military with an impossible mission – tracking the malevolent entity known only as 'It.' It’s like watching a character’s prequel DLC, seeing their origin story play out before they unlock their full skill tree. Fair dinkum, it's a clever bit of world-building.
This isn't just some fan service Easter egg, mind you. King himself has a habit of stitching his universe together like a master weaver – Hallorann, for instance, pops up in the *It* novel’s flashbacks and plays a significant role in *Doctor Sleep*, the sequel to *The Shining*. It's like a grand, interconnected gaming universe where every side quest potentially impacts the main narrative centuries later. Makes you wonder what happens if you skip a certain lore entry, doesn't it? Well, with *Welcome to Derry*, missing *The Shining* means missing a crucial piece of Hallorann’s personal questline.
So, why does this matter to us, the eager gamers of narrative experiences? Because watching *The Shining* beforehand isn't just about spotting a familiar face in a crowd; it’s about slotting a crucial, albeit previously hidden, piece into the grand puzzle of King’s multiverse. When you encounter this younger Hallorann in *Welcome to Derry*, still wrestling with his nascent powers and tasked with hunting something as ancient and terrifying as It, you bring a wealth of context to the screen. You know the wisdom he eventually gains, the deep empathy he cultivates, and the chilling horrors he’s destined to face at the Overlook Hotel. It makes his struggle in Derry hit so much harder, giving his early questline a profound, almost tragic weight. It’s like replaying an RPG with New Game+ knowledge, where every early interaction, every hesitant step, resonates with the player because they know the full arc of the character. You see the seeds of the hero he will become, planted amidst unimaginable dread.
This clever narrative move also serves as a stark, bloody hell, chilling reminder of just how powerful It truly is. We often perceive It through the lens of childhood terror, a monstrous entity preying on youthful fears. But to witness a grown man, one with extraordinary latent psychic abilities – a proper digital wizard in his own right, you might say – trembling in its presence? That, my friends, is a chilling testament to the cosmic, almost Eldritch horror lurking beneath Derry. It elevates It from merely a scary clown to an ancient, malevolent force capable of utterly unsettling even those touched by something as profound as the Shining. It's like seeing a final boss character from an epic fantasy game suddenly appear in a low-level dungeon, utterly terrifying the most seasoned warriors.
And let's be honest, in an age where every major franchise is trying to build its own sprawling cinematic universe, often with mixed results, King was doing it decades ago, long before it became a marketing buzzword. This isn't just a corporate mandate to connect IPs; it's a testament to a master storyteller’s vision, a web of interconnected lore that rewards the curious and the observant. It's why we spend hours poring over game wikis, looking for obscure lore entries or hidden dialogue – because it enriches the entire experience. *Welcome to Derry* isn’t just a prequel; it’s a crucial lore drop, a piece of a much larger narrative tapestry that reveals itself more fully the deeper you choose to dive.
So, for those of you gearing up for *It: Welcome to Derry*'s debut, do yourself a solid. Don't waste your precious gaming time re-grinding the *It* films (though they’re decent enough, if you fancy a refresher later). Instead, fire up *The Shining* on HBO Max. Soak in the unsettling atmosphere, appreciate the nuanced performance of Scatman Crothers as the older Hallorann, and prepare your brain for some serious lore connections. Just, for the love of all that is shiny and bright, steer clear of that 1997 *Shining* miniseries – it's like a broken spell that just fizzles out and gives everyone a headache. Stick with the classic, mate, trust me on this one. It's the ultimate pre-patch update for your brain before diving into Derry's dark depths.
Tags: Stephen King, Horror Prequel, Cinematic Universe, Gaming Lore, Character Origins
Original article: Polygon