The Connection Between ‘Stranger Things’ And ‘It’ Is Quite Intentional

[Potential spoilers for Stranger Things 2]

If you were to rank every TV show fan theory from “not bad” to “quit the internet forever,” Stranger Things and It taking place in the same universe would float to the top of the list. The clues are all there, The Snowman-style: It, the book, is about a creepy clown terrorizing a small town in Maine in the 1950s; Bob Newby, who lived in Maine in the 1950s, is terrified of creepy clowns. Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike on Stranger Things, even says the same line in season two of the Netflix series and record-breaking It movie.

Co-creators (and noted Stephen King fans) Ross and Matt Duffer are aware of the connection, and while speaking to Vulture, they acknowledged Bob’s backstory is based on It, even if he doesn’t actually hail from Derry, Maine.

“Well, we both have a problem with clowns,” Matt said. “I’ve had it my entire life. I had it when I was really little, so when there were clowns at a party, it was a real problem for me. Then in 1990, we saw the It mini-series and Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise really messed me up. Like, it scarred me in a major way. It was one of the first true horror things I had seen, and I had not experienced Stephen King before… It was two weeks, at least, of no sleep because of that. So yeah, I think [Bob’s clown story] was really me describing something that just freaked me out. I didn’t have that experience myself. I just had nightmares like that.” He added, “I’m sure we were just like, ‘It would be cute if [Bob] suggests moving to Maine, right next to Stephen King.’ Stephen King exists in this world. Some of the characters have read Stephen King. But Bob definitely does not read Stephen King. He’s not interested at all in Stephen King because he hates that kind of story.”

Bob is definitely more of a The Lord of the Rings guy. It’s a shame [SPOILER FOR STRANGER THINGS 2] he won’t be around for when A Game of Thrones is published in 1996. He’d be the one making fan theories, then.

(Via Vulture)

×