Dick Hallorann looking terrified in IT Welcome to Derry episode 4
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Nick Bythrow
Published 11 minutes ago
Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.
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Warning: SPOILERS ahead for IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5!IT: Welcome to Derry star Chris Chalk has explained what's inside Dick Hallorann's mysterious box, and how it will change him for the rest of the series. Episode 5 separated Hallorann from the rest of IT: Welcome to Derry's characters, watching as Pennywise, in the form of his grandfather, pried open a metal box in his mind.
Upon finding his way out of the sewers, Hallorann sees a ghostly visage of Pauly, almost in a zombie-like state. This is despite not knowing his fellow soldier had died earlier on their mission. IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5 ends with an ominous shot of the box now open, light beaming from within. However, what's inside remains a mystery.
Speaking with Decider, though, Chalk clarified what's inside Hallorann's box in IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5. He explained how his Shining caused him to see negative memories that he locked in a box in his mind. However, Pennywise's influence has unlocked it, freeing those memories and the evil forces residing inside. See Chalk's full explanation below:
Okay, think of this: If you had the ability to see beyond this reality since you were a wee one and you were told, ‘Put it in a box.’ So imagine all of the things we hate about ourselves, or we hate about the people across us, and we just put it down. We just stuff it, we stuff it. It’s really that.
All the terror that he has ever seen, he just slipped it in the box, slipped it in the box, slipped it in the box. So the moment you unleash that, it’s not going to come out as gently as Dick put it in and it’s not happy about being shoved in a box. These are not entities that want to be trapped. And so when they can break free, they do and it changes Dick forever.
The idea of those with the Shining locking away negative psychic forces in a box was introduced in Stephen King's Doctor Sleep. During the story, Hallorann teaches Danny Torrance how to lock negative memories and ideas in a box in his mind. He did this to prevent those negative experiences from flooding back and overtaking him.
However, Pennywise managed to find the box in his mind, and was powerful enough to open it. This implies every negative experience and memory Hallorann has throughout his decades of using the Shining will come flooding back, including new connections to the world, such as seeing Pauly's ghost. For now, it's unclear what evils are now lurking in his subconscious.
No matter how it plays out, Hallorann's box being open will have devastating consequences for Francis Shaw's mission to capture Pennywise. His powers can no longer be fully relied upon now that his box is open. Given how much IT: Welcome to Derry reviews praised the series' scares, more horror is destined to arrive, toying with the psychic's abilities.
Upcoming Episodes Of IT: Welcome To Derry
Release Dates
Season 1, Episode 6: "In the Name of the Father"
November 30, 2025
Season 1, Episode 7: "The Black Spot"
December 7, 2025
Season 1, Episode 8: "Winter Fire"
December 14, 2025
With only three episodes left in season 1, IT: Welcome to Derry has plenty of time to showcase how the box being open impacts Hallorann and the mission at large. The episodes are building to an inevitable, disastrous event, a defining trait of Pennywise's cycles. Perhaps what's in the box will be important to how said destruction plays out.
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It: Welcome to Derry
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Horror Mystery Drama Release Date October 26, 2025 Network HBO Directors Andy Muschietti Writers Jason Fuchs, Stephen King, Austin Guzman Franchise(s) IT
8 Images
Dick Hallorann with his eyes wide looking angry in It Welcome to Derry
Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise in IT Welcome to Derry trailer 2Image courtesy of HBO Max
Kid similing in IT Welcome To Derry
It: Welcome to Derry teens looking surprised at something off screen
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