This text incorporates spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry episode 2.
Solely two Stephen King TV variations have been launched in 2025, however surprisingly, they’ve an simple story connection.
Those that recurrently learn Stephen King’s books are effectively conscious of the hidden connections and cross-references in lots of his tales. A lot of the well-liked books written by Stephen King have balanced, self-contained narratives, however refined particulars within the storytelling counsel that they’re tied to the overarching Stephen King world.
After watching the one Stephen King TV present launched in 2025, it is laborious to not see comparable duplication. Each exhibits are streamed on varied providers and are animated variations of various Stephen King books. However they’re interconnected in a single vital method.
The Institute and It: Welcome to Derry, subtly tied to Stephen King’s The Shining
Earlier this 12 months, a tv model of Stephen King’s The Institute arrived on MGM+. The primary characters on this present are younger kids, lots of whom have telepathic and telekinetic talents. The present’s principal character, Luke, additionally has precognitive talents.
Given how folks with the Shine in Stephen King’s The Shining typically possess all these supernatural powers, it is secure to say that lots of the characters in The Institute exist on the identical non secular continuum because the characters in The Shining. Apparently, IT: Welcome to Derry’s additionally options characters with “shining” powers.
Dick Halloran, who additionally appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s movie The Shining, is likely one of the principal characters in IT: Welcome to Derry. Like his counterpart in The Shining, the HBO drama’s Hallorann additionally has clairvoyance.
In The Shining, he’s portrayed as the top chef on the Overlook Resort, however in Welcome to Derry, he serves within the navy and helps his seniors observe down Pennywise. In The Shining, we see that Danny additionally has a “shine” on account of his talents, and it reappears in Physician Sleep.
In Welcome to Derry, his navy superiors order him to make use of his powers to assist discover Pennywise, however he appears to have ulterior motives of his personal. The connection to Stephen King’s The Shining is simple, as each The Institute and IT: Welcome to Derry function characters with Shine.
There are different simple thematic similarities between The Institute and IT: Welcome to Delhi
Chris Reardon / ©MGM+ / Offered by Everett Assortment
From a storytelling perspective, The Institute and IT: Welcome to Derry have very totally different constructions. Nonetheless, with regards to their themes, they’ve rather a lot in widespread. For instance, each happen in a small city the place the federal government is secretly conducting experiments.
The Institute has been renewed for season two.
The experiment primarily threatens essentially the most weak of the city’s youth. The navy’s operational guideline within the IT sector, “Welcome to Derry”, threatens to unleash Pennywise on Derry, which primarily targets kids. In the meantime, a authorities group referred to as the Institute within the MGM+ sequence kidnaps kids and makes an attempt to weaponize them.
In each instances, the main forces behind the overarching authorities constructions ignore the protection of youngsters, believing that they’re serving the better good. Consequently, in each Stephen King movie variations, the adults change into more and more apathetic, whereas the kids are pressured to lose their innocence. IT: Welcome to Derry is far darker than The Institute, however the similarities make it an ideal companion piece.
