The HBO series IT: Welcome to Derry dives deeper into the world Stephen King created while exploring the origins of the entity that permeates through the quaint town. Set in 1962, at the time of the Cold War when the fears of nuclear attack and radiation were at the forefront, there are enough scares, unexpected deaths, surprising twists and Easter eggs to make you realize that no one is safe. And now that General Shaw (James Remar) has sent his men, including Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) and Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) into the sewers where they’ve come face to face with an evil far more dangerous than any of them were prepared for, they’ve also been forever changed. At the same time, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) is fighting for his freedom after being falsely held as the only suspect in the movie theater massacre.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Chalk and Rider discussed tackling a world from the mind of King, how much the cast supported each other and lifted each other up, exploring Dick Hallorann at this point in his life, what Hallorann thinks of Hanlon, why it’s hard for Hank to trust people, forcing Hallorann to face his past in that bathroom scene, and their reaction to learning how everything would wrap up in the season finale.

Stephen Rider and Chris Chalk Were Not Intimidated by Tackling the World of Stephen King With ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’

“We’re very grateful to be a part of it.”

Collider: What is the biggest intimidation factor when it comes to taking on a Stephen King story and a Stephen King world? Specifically with this story, was there anything that you really wanted to make sure you delivered on?

STEPHEN RIDER: I think it just goes back to humanity. As an actor, you can’t play big. The moment I make something so big and I make it too precious, there’s something that I create that’s like a barrier in which I can’t really enter in. Of course, we pay homage to Stephen King. We’re very grateful to be a part of it. But then, you’ve got to get down to the work. As actors that come from theater, our job is to understand the objective and the wants and all that type of stuff. That’s the skeleton. But how do we bring in the flesh and the blood of our characters? I truly believe that Chris [Chalk] did that, as well as myself and the other actors. Honestly, I’m so grateful because in the process of seeing people so committed, specifically Chris and Jovan [Adepo] and everybody, you build incredible relationships because you are a fan of other people’s work and you actually want people to win.

CHRIS CHALK: For my own mental health. I don’t fool with intimidation and pressure because that’s not my job. We’re blessed. It’s at HBO. They’ll figure it out. That’s the beauty of being at an amazing place. If I do my job and they do their job, the job’s done. Once they hire me, I don’t need to be intimidated. I’m just excited to start collaborating. So, there’s no big intimidation factor. It’s more like, when I see Steph do a scene and I’m watching him, there is a little bit of, “Oh, that was good. Okay, I want to do good.” There’s a lot of that and going, “Oh, I ain’t letting Jovan do better than me.” This is so rare, and anybody in the future, please don’t do this, but we gave each other notes. We trusted and supported each other to that degree. Maybe it’s because we went into the world of supernatural and were like, “Let’s at least take care of each other.”

RIDER: And also, the fact that we filmed in Toronto, we were forced to be away from home, so we became each other’s family because we needed it. We also just all got along. We just naturally get along.

CHALK: We get along. We like each other.

Chris, what was the best note you got from somebody else where you were like, “Damn it, why didn’t I think of that myself”?

CHALK: You know who was so good at giving me notes? (Director) Andrew Bernstein. It’s hard to give me a note because I do the work. I really do a lot of work. And I swear, every scene I shot with Andrew, he’d come over and say, “Oh, my God, Chris, that’s so good. But did you think about this?” And I would go, “Man, I did not think about it.” I knew I had prepared for the day’s work, but Andrew is so good at that. He’s a TV director. All directors are not the same, but a TV director is really good at a certain skill set. He was so good at honoring our process and keeping it moving, but then seeing what we do and asking one question that makes you go, “I’m a little insecure.”

RIDER: Absolutely. And then, Andy might talk in pictures. As an actor, you have to be like, “Okay, I understand what he’s actually really saying, and let me do what I need to do to make sure that becomes real.”

CHALK: And then, the most useful note I got was from Steph in a scene when he said, “Look like you’re cold. It’s supposed to be cold.” I was like, “Oh, my God, it’s hot in here. I forgot it’s supposed to be cold.”

Chris, how deep did you want to get into Dick Hallorann and The Shining? Did you want to think about any of that, or not think about any of that?

CHALK: I think about as much as is useful. I gave all the previous performers literally 45 minutes because I was like, “Not an hour.” It’s easy to create and steal by mistake, so I didn’t want to ingest too much, but I did want to honor the fans’ point of view and the text in which he has already written. Ultimately, we had an incredible script, and I had this legacy that I could break down backwards. I went terribly deep, but I did not rewatch performances. I did not want to mirror too much of that because I think that would have been detrimental. That’s not this story.

Will Dick Hallorann and Leroy Hanlon Be Allies in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’?

“Dick longs for a lot of what Leroy has.”

Image via HBO

Hallorann is able to get a read on people in a way that other people cannot and because of that, he also knows that Leroy is different. What does Hallorann think of Hanlon, especially when he knows more about what’s going on than Hanlon does? What was it like to figure out the levels of that dynamic?

CHALK: What I love about Dick Hallorann and Hanlon is that they’re two men who believe they’re so powerful, and they’re not. Hallorann has no interest in Hanlon at the beginning. He’s simply a prop to get Hallorann out of this situation and leave Derry as soon as possible. But the more they get to know each other, particularly as he gets to meet the family and they start to talk, that’s when you start to see that Dick longs for a lot of what Leroy has. That’s also the scene where Leroy warns Dick by saying, “Hey, I can tell if something’s going on with you. Don’t mess with me, bro.” That’s how they become allies. Imagine you have an amazing power, but nobody really knows or cares. Not only does Leroy know, but he’s like, “I’m not scared of you.” There’s something comforting in that. I think that’s when they start to bond. And then, the question is, will they stay allies?

Stephen, while Hallorann is trying to figure out Hanlon, Charlotte is making Hank Grogan her business. Is it fair to say that he’s not used to really having people in his corner? What was it like to find that dynamic?

RIDER: I enjoyed it. I don’t think, on a daily basis, Hank needed anybody in that way. Not just Hank, but as a person, as someone who’s married and has a family, it’s not like I depend on a lot of people outside my small little network. But then, when things get hairy or you need help, we’ll call Chris and his wife. We have our larger village. In this situation, Hank needs people. Of course, he’s very reluctant to trust somebody that he doesn’t know, especially when that person is acting as if they’ve known each other forever. He’s been put into a situation where he has no other choice. That’s the thing about faith. It’s easy to say you have faith, but you have to be put in situations where you have to cultivate faith. It’s not a tangible thing.

He has some pretty emotional moments, but at the same time, he has to keep some of that under control because of the situation that he’s in. What was it like to figure those emotions out and to find those moments where he just can’t hold it in?

RIDER: Our job is to bring everything. If I bring red, the goal is to hopefully have directors that can tell you how to shape that. Chris and Jovan would be like, “Give me a little bit of a fuchsia. I need some pink. I need some lavender.” I don’t know how far. Some days I went home and I was like, “I think I broke Hank.”

CHALK: I had those days.

RIDER: Maybe I was overburdened. You don’t really know because it’s an editor’s medium, and you don’t know how these things are going to be put together. All I could do was put my heart on the line and take that risk. Hopefully, I’ve put this together in a way where you go on a journey.

Chris, talk to me about the work that you did in episode five with Hallorann and his grandparents in the bathroom because that was all very intense. We get this really clear impression of the abuse from his grandfather, and it’s so interesting to watch Hallorann relive that as an adult, as he reverts back to that time. What was it like to figure all of that out?

CHALK: Emmanuel [Osei-Kuffour Jr.] directed that episode, who is now a good friend of mine, and I remember we had this meeting. I almost drowned, so doing all that water work, I was like, “Oh, the fear is going to be real because I haven’t learned to be a better swimmer yet.” So, when Dick falls through the thing and then comes up in another reality, I love that you ask this question because the actual thing he fears the most is that room. It’s the box and that evil, horrible man who comes in and just torments him.

To be able to, in episode five when we’re not even through the show yet, deal with his greatest fear and be put in a corner, and to be a grown man who, from episode one, was at his most confident self, and then by episode five is infantilized, what a delicious treat to eat. It was so much fun, and it felt so supportive. I was in that water. There was a tank they built underneath the tub, so we would dip down and then come up. Because I’m goofy and was over-committing, I was really choking on water. There was a point, no lie, that Emmanuel said, “Hey, Chris, you’re doing too much.” I was like, “At least you know I’m committed.” It’s just a gift to play anyone struggling with their own reality. His entire journey is trying to keep his reality together.

Chris Chalk Admits He Cried When He Saw a Cut of the ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Season Finale

“You’ve got me crying, watching this show that I read?”

Image via HBO

When you guys learned where this season would end and how this chapter of the story would conclude, what was your reaction?

CHALK: There was a person that worked on our set who would always do quick cuts for Andy. We were there working the final scene, which took months, and he said, “Hey, do you guys want to see the end of the show?” And it was this temporary cut. The first reaction was that we cried. I was like, “You’ve got me crying, watching this show that I read? This is goofy. I must be tired.”

RIDER: There was so much going on that we were not on set for. So, just to see things come together, everybody brought it.

CHALK: And whomever it is that survives has gone through an incredible journey. To be able to watch that journey and see that last moment of everybody doing whatever they do, felt cathartic. It was a long job.

RIDER: We were also there for so long. It was the journey of the actual story and the journey of us being around each other, off and on for over a year and a half, if not more. I was sad when it was over because I had built incredible relationships that would never be the same. We (referring to Chalk) live close together, but it’s not the same, where you can knock on somebody’s door and go out and have pizza or just walk around because we both aren’t working that day.