What's In Dick Hallorann's Box In It: Welcome To Derry?

"It: Welcome to Derry" season 1, episode 5 is titled "29 Neibolt Street," and indeed, a significant portion of the action takes place in the infamous House on Neibolt Street, also known in the "It" lore as the house that contains the well that leads to It's underground lair. However, the episode also introduces another mysterious element: the strange box Hallorann (Chris Chalk) is revealed to have kept during a flashback vision.

With Hallorann being the link between "It: Welcome to Derry" and Stephen King's "The Shining," his arc on the show is inherently interesting to fans looking for ways the show ties into King's wider lore. Fortunately, Chalk took the time to reveal some of his character's secrets pertaining to the contents of the box in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. As it turns out, the box is something Hallorann would very much like to keep unopened:

"It's everything he's ever been afraid of since he was a kid. My mother would hate that I'm saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway. The way she handles stress is she sips it and squishes it down. You can even hear it in how she talks. She squeezes her throat when she gets very upset because she's squished so much trauma down. But Dick, instead of squishing the trauma down, he's locked it all up in this psychic box that he can protect. So, the box contains literally every one of his nightmares, and they're not happy with him. If you engage these f****** things, they'll come for you."

Mike Flanagan's 2019 film adaptation of the "Shining" sequel book "Doctor Sleep" put some Stephen King back in Stanley Kubrick's "Shining" adaptation by acting as a sequel to both King's "The Shining" novel and Kubrick's 1980 movie, which King famously has disdain for. This time, an adult Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is forced to step in a mentor role when he finds out about young, powerful Shiner Abra Stone (Kyliegh Curran). In this capacity, Dan has to face off against the emerging threat of Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her band of Shiner-eating energy vampires ... and, ultimately, face his demons by returning to the Overlook Hotel. 

One of the key concepts of this movie is the psychic lockbox, which the spirit of Hallorann (Carl Lumbly) teaches young Dan (Roger Dale Floyd) to use as a method to put away the many hostile ghosts that torment people who have the Shining. It's interesting that "It: Welcome to Derry" is now exploring this theme further by revealing that Hallorann already had a box of his own at a very young age. 

These lockboxes become a key weapon against the antagonist in "Doctor Sleep," in which Dan defeats Rose at the Overlook by unboxing every malevolent entity he has tucked away to attack her. Could the reveal of Hallorann's box technique suggest that we'll see a similar confrontation between him and Pennywise on "It: Welcome to Derry?" A direct battle like that seems unlikely, because we already know that both characters will survive the events of the show ... but still, fans can likely expect the series to explore the box in the episodes to come. 

"It: Welcome to Derry" is streaming on HBO Max.