IT: Welcome to Derry has introduced an epic crossover that I’ve been excited about for weeks, with The Shining‘s Dick Hallorann on the scene.
Stephen King fans know Hallorann as being the head chef at the Overlook, but in Welcome to Derry, we get to learn about him long before he headed to the iconic haunted hotel.
I had the opportunity to speak to Chris Chalk, who is taking on the role of Dick in the series, about following in the footsteps of other actors such as Scatman Crothers and Carl Lumbly who portrayed the character in The Shining and the sequel Doctor Sleep.
When I asked Chalk about playing such an iconic role, he told TechRadar and other press: “Most of my favorite things that I’ve done in my career are on this show. So as you keep watching, you’ll see things that Dick goes through and just know I’m having a blast.
“I’m having a blast because it’s so awesome to be put in the most uncomfortable positions and have to fight my way out of them.”
We’re four episodes into Welcome to Derry at the time of writing, and we’ve already seen some very shocking scenes. If anything, it seems the HBO Max show is about to dial that up, as Chalk teased a moment between him and Jovan Adepo’s Major Leroy Hanlon.
Chalk admitted that playing Dick Hallorann took him to places he’d never gone before, describing the experience as a “gift”. “There’s a set piece that happens between me and Jovan, that was the one scene that I was so grateful for because it allowed me to be at a place that I, Chris Chalk, don’t normally go,” he said.
“I’m kind of stoic, I’m like a comic stoic. So when I was asked to do some of the things on the extremes of my emotional boundaries, oh my gosh, what a gift.”
Dick Hallorann has long been one of my favorite Stephen King characters and getting to see a new side of him through Chris Chalk has been really rewarding for a long-time King fan like me.
When the show was first announced, I didn’t expect the lore to go as deep as it has, and considering the Welcome to Derry creators teased plans for more seasons, I’m expecting to see even more characters showing up from across his novels and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
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