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New Stephen King TV Show’s Shared Universe & Dark Tower Connections Explained by Creator
For decades, Stephen King‘s vast bibliography has formed a sprawling web of stories. Characters frequently cross between novels, and events in one tale are often referenced in another, creating a complex shared universe for constant readers to explore. Plus, King has established cursed locations like Castle Rock and Derry, Maine, that serve as settings for multiple supernatural incidents. The nexus holding this entire multiverse together is his epic saga, The Dark Tower, which explains how every story, from ‘Salem’s Lot to The Stand, is part of a larger cosmic design. The upcoming prequel series It: Welcome to Derry is not only aware of this intricate lore but is set to embrace it fully, expanding beyond the mythology of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to delve deeper into King’s broader literary universe than any adaptation before it.
“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,” director Andy Muschietti told TV Insider. “Everything that is on the other side, it’s connected to the Dark Tower because it’s the same universe, the macroverse.” Muschietti elaborated on the show’s approach to these massive ideas, assuring fans that the series will provide more than just hints and Easter Eggs. “Of course, being It, we are seeing all this from the perspective of humans, mostly. In this series, there will be more than speculation.”
How It: Welcome to Derry Can Connect to Other Stephen King Stories
It: Welcome to Derry is set in the 1960s, chronicling the events that lead up to the story told in the 2017 film It. The series draws inspiration from the interludes in King’s original 1986 novel, which detailed the town of Derry’s dark history and Pennywise’s cyclical reign of terror. This prequel setting provides a perfect opportunity to establish connections that were impossible in the film adaptations, which were more narrowly focused on the Losers’ Club. By exploring Derry decades before those characters were born, the series can show the town’s place within the haunted landscape of Maine, a state that serves as the primary setting for a large portion of King’s work. Towns like Jerusalem’s Lot (‘Salem’s Lot) and Castle Rock (The Dead Zone, Cujo) are geographical neighbors to Derry, and their own supernatural histories could easily intersect with the origin of Pennywise’s influence.
The most significant connection, as Muschietti himself confirmed, is to The Dark Tower. In King’s novels, Pennywise is not merely a sewer-dwelling clown but an interdimensional entity from a void known as the “Macroverse,” or Todash Space in The Dark Tower terminology. This is the chaotic space that exists between the countless worlds of King’s multiverse. Pennywise’s natural enemy is a cosmic turtle deity named Maturin, one of the twelve Guardians of the Beams that hold up the Dark Tower itself, the very center of all existence. The movies only briefly alluded to the turtle, but the series has the freedom to explore this mythology directly. By giving audiences “glimpses of the other side,” Welcome to Derry can visually represent the Macroverse and explain how a creature like Pennywise ended up trapped beneath Derry, Maine, explicitly linking the town’s curse to the foundational lore of King’s entire fictional universe.
It: Welcome to Derry is scheduled to premiere on HBO on October 26, 2025.
How do you think It: Welcome to Derry should handle its connections to The Dark Tower? Let us know in the comments!
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