'IT: Welcome to Derry' Quietly Drops an Essential Stephen King Lore Episode

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for “A Story of Derry.”

The irony that fans of Stranger Things, a show heavily inspired by IT, spent months convincing themselves there was a secret episode is somewhat amusing when considering that the prequel series IT: Welcome to Derry managed to drop a surprise episode on Halloween at midnight. Although the first season of It: Welcome to Derry took place in the 1960s, two decades before the events of Stephen King‘s original novel, Season 2 is expected to go back further in the timeline to the 1930s during the Great Depression. The show’s new prequel episode, a standalone installment titled “A Story of Derry,” goes back even further than that into pre-Colonial times, where the Western Wood hasn’t yet been founded as Derry.

The most powerful idea in IT: Welcome to Derry is that the ancient evil doesn’t take just one form, as it represents a societal danger that reconfigures itself within different generations based on the context of the era. “A Story of Derry” explains how the spirit known as “The Galloo” was first confined to the land that would eventually become Derry, even if its evil had already caused mass destruction. A core tenet of King’s stories is the idea that there will always be a group of brave, often young outsiders who are willing to take a stand against these supernatural forces, and “A Story of Derry” features a compelling ensemble of new protagonists in Necani (Kiawentiio), Maneese (Michael Podemski-Bedard), and Kino (Isabel Deroy-Olson), the warriors from the Shokopiwah tribe who go hunting for the Galloo.

‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Returns to One of Its Most Important Episodes

If the Galloo and the Shokopiwah tribe sound familiar, it’s because they were first introduced in the Season 1 episode “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function,” where Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) is working under the orders of Lieutenant General Shaw (James Remar) to interrogate the Native American teenager Taniel (Joshua Odjick) to learn about his aunt’s story about how the Galloo first came to Earth and was eventually imprisoned by their people using a fragment from the star. “A Story of Derry” offers more detail to this origin tale by telling it from the right perspective; instead of this critical piece of Native American mythology being coaxed out of a victim through militaristic interrogation, it is shown from the perspective of the young warriors of the Shokopiwah tribe who would go on to pass it along through oral traditions. Colonialism is a component of how The Galloo reconfigures itself, which is hinted at in “A Story of Derry;” not only does it first take the form of white colonizers who have impeded on the land, but it is implied that The Galloo was awakened by the military in an act of appropriating Native American magic for their own gain.

One of the bigger surprises in “A Story of Derry” is that the episode includes a great performance from Zahn McClarnon as Mativ, a Native American warrior who initially explains the story of the Galloo to Necani and their friends. The revelation that Mativ has been corrupted by the Galloo, which led him to massacre his own tribe, is a reminder of how cursed the land is to experience acts of violence that leave few survivors, allowing the stories to be lost. It’s also a showcase for McClarnon’s terrifically unsettling acting, because Mativ is initially presented as being a caring mentor before revealing himself to be compromised. McClarnon does a great job of showing Mativ’s complexity as the character struggles to resist the corrupting influence within him.

‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Introduces One of Stephen King’s Most Important Characters

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The most shocking reveal in “A Story of Derry” is that it marks the first on-screen appearance of Maturin, the cosmic turtle with the power to defeat the Galloo. Although the idea of an all-powerful turtle might seem ridiculous to those who aren’t versed in King’s lore, this character is of critical importance within many of the author’s most legendary texts; Maturin is one of the 12 ancient guardians in The Dark Tower universe responsible for holding up the pillars of reality, and in the original IT novel, Bill recites a ritual taught to him by Maturin to expel Pennywise. It’s been suspected that IT: Welcome to Derry might delve into some of the weirder aspects of King’s mythology and potentially incorporate aspects of some of his other novels, and the introduction of Maturin is the first clue.

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

• He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
• Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
• The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
• You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.

• But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
• Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
• Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
• You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

• You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
• The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
• Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
• Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

• The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
• You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
• That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
• It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

• You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
• Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
• Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
• Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

Although it’s an important piece of lore that provides necessary context for the series, “A Story of Derry” is also a thrilling standalone installment that revamps the story from a fresh perspective. IT: Welcome to Derry is at its best when it moves beyond ties to the original novel and goes deep into Derry’s history, and hopefully more episodes like this one will take similar risks.