It: Welcome To Derry Easter Egg Links To Stephen King’s ‘The Moving Finger’

by

Spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry episode 1 ahead!

Even dedicated fans might not have noticed a hidden reference in It: Welcome to Derry – a nod to one of Stephen King’s lesser-known stories. This HBO prequel to the It movies is full of Easter eggs for King’s followers, offering extra details and connections for those who know his work well.

About halfway through the first episode of Welcome to Derry, something unsettling happens that you might have missed. After Matty (Miles Ekhardt) goes missing and is believed to be dead, his classmate, Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), finds something scary in her bathroom.

Lilly was relaxing in the bathtub when she thought she heard Matty’s voice coming from the drain. She looked closely and pleaded for him to return home, and then, a single finger suddenly appeared from the darkness, startling her. It was a classic scary moment, similar in feel to one of Stephen King’s stranger, lesser-known stories.

It: Welcome To Derry’s Drain Scene Is A Reminder Of Stephen King’s “The Moving Finger”

Stephen King’s collection of short stories, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, was published in 1993 and includes the story “The Moving Finger.” Originally appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in December 1990, “The Moving Finger” is a particularly unsettling, unusual, and well-crafted tale.

Howard Milta is just relaxing at home, watching Jeopardy!, when he hears a strange scratching sound from his bathroom sink. Thinking it might be another rat, he grabs a broom and goes to investigate. But instead of a rat, he finds something much more disturbing – a single finger sticking out of the drain.

When a finger points directly at Howard, his life turns into a terrifying and surreal nightmare. The more he tries to escape it, the worse things get. And as the afternoon progresses, the finger—which seems to have come from a drain—grows to an impossibly enormous size.

The way Matty’s finger appears from the drain closely mirrors the description of the finger in King’s story about Howard’s apartment. What makes “The Moving Finger” so frightening is that there’s no indication anything bad should happen to Howard. He’s just an ordinary man relaxing at home, yet he’s still tormented.

It: Welcome To Derry’s Premiere Episode Is Filled With Easter Eggs

The idea of voices coming from drains isn’t just a spooky element from Stephen King’s Welcome to Derry or the story “The Moving Finger.” Throughout his books, characters often hear pleas for help coming from drains. A well-known instance is the conversation between Matthew Clements and Beverly Marsh in It.

Welcome to Derry clearly loves Stephen King’s work, pulling in details from stories like The Shining and “The Shawshank Redemption” right from the start. This shows the show stays true to King’s style, where his stories often connect and overlap.

Read More

2025-10-30 18:48