Who's who in Welcome to Derry - and how do they connect to the Losers?

Because Welcome to Derry is a prequel, we see lots of familiar names and places. Here’s a guide to how the characters connect across the vast King-verse – and some theories on what the connections mean.

Beware: spoilers ahead for the films, the series, and the novel!

First of all: a quick timeline of the It: Parts I & II and Welcome to Derry (thanks to Andy Muschietti). The novel and the 1990b miniseries follow different chronologies, but they’re not relevant here.

Welcome to Derry Season 3: 1908

Welcome to Derry Season 2: 1935

Welcome to Derry Season 1: 1962

It Part I: 1988-9

It Part II: 2016

Now, the Welcome to Derry characters with connections to the Losers we fell in love with in 2017.

Will Hanlon (and family)

It’s no surprise to learn that Will Hanlon, one of the series’ most lovable plucky protagonists, is related to Mike Hanlon, the final member of the Losers’ Club. Will is Mike’s father, which gave the kid some plot armor (thank goodness, because I’m not sure how much more loss I could have taken this season). However, in the It films, Mike is an orphan, his parents having died in a housefire when he was young. Thus, Will was never able to pass information about It along to his son, who would go on to fight the creature during the next cycle.  

Marge Tozier (née Truman)

In episode 8, Pennywise reveals that Marge will be Richie Tozier’s mother. Richie, though the fact is never referenced in the films or novel, is thus assumed to be named after Ricardo Santos, the boy who sacrificed his life for Marge during the first at the Black Spot.

Welcome to Derry - Courtesy of HBO Max

Since Marge is alive during It: Part I, it remains ambiguous why she never left Derry before the next cycle began. Pennywise told her that her son would kill It (and/or bring about Its birth), so it’s possible that she remained in hopes that her son would permanently end the terror. This doesn’t explain why she never warned Richie about what was to come, though. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers in the next season.             

Teddy Uris

Continuing with the obvious links, Teddy Uris, one of the victims of the movie theater massacre in episode 1 is understood to be related to Stanley Uris (probably an uncle).

Elfrida Marsh

In the last episode of Welcome to Derry’s first season, we see that Elfrida Marsh has taken her own life in Juniper Hill. Elfrida is Beverly’s mother (and Bev gets a small cameo during her death scene). Elfrida’s death is referenced in the It films when Beverly’s father blames his daughter for what happened.

Ingrid Kersh (and father Robert Gray)

This is where things get a little murkier! We never meet any actual humans named “Kersh” in the IT films, but adult Beverly does have an encounter with Pennywise in the form of “Mrs. Kersh” at her father’s old house. In It: Part II, the “Mrs. Kersh” that Bev meets refers to her father, Robert Gray (stage name Pennywise the Dancing Clown), although given the way she morphs and changes during the scene, the implication is that she is merely the face It chooses to wear. (The human Ingrid Kersh would also likely be dead by 2016, when the events of It: Part II take place.) We learn in Welcome to Derry that a human Robert Gray who worked as a clown did exist – but he was killed by It, who then adopted his persona.

In the last episode of Welcome to Derry, Ingrid Kersh witnesses Elfrida March’s death and reassures young Bev that “No one ever really dies in Derry.” Between Ingrid’s connection to It and her presence at a traumatic moment in Beverly’s life, it makes sense that It would use her form as a disguise.

Clint Bowers

Proving that the Bowers line didn’t change much over the years, Clint Bowers is as racist as his descendant Henry will go on to be in the IT films. Presumably, Clint is Henry’s grandfather, thus making him Butch’s father. He’s never mentioned in the novel, and his story seems to begin and end in Welcome to Derry season 1.

Ronnie Grogan and Eddie Clements

Ronnie doesn’t appear in the 2010s films, nor does Eddie, but their names are taken from small characters in the novel: both are Its victims during the Losers’ Club’s first cycle. The original novel takes place in 1957-8 and 1984-5 (with interludes referencing events in 1741, 1851, 1879, 1905-6, 1929-30), so Ronnie and Eddie would both have been children alongside Ben, Bev, and the rest of the gang in that version of the story.

Bonus: Dick Hallorann

Welcome to Derry - Courtesy of HBO Max

This guy is familiar to King fans, but not because of IT Part I or II. He plays an important role in The Shining (both the miniseries and the Kubrick film) and in flashbacks in Doctor Sleep. In The Shining and Doctor Sleep novels, Dick’s story is similar (although his fate is a lot happier in the than the movie). He gets a nod in the novel It, but nothing close to the role he plays in Welcome to Derry.

Because he goes on to work at the Overlook Hotel (the guy can’t catch a break), Dick has plot armor like Will: we knew he wouldn’t die during his time in Maine. And as for the future… “how much trouble could a hotel be?”

As the show continues to weave its way through the history of Derry, more connections are sure to make themselves apparent.

Welcome to Derry is streaming on HBO Max. Follow the Horror Lounge for updates about season 2 and 3 as soon as we have them!