The Conjuring: Last Rites Has A Reference That It: Welcome To Derry Fans Will Love

Fans of Stephen King (often referred to as Constant Readers) are well aware that King's works are all part of an extended shared universe, one which generally falls under the purview of the "Dark Tower" series. This element of King's books doesn't show up too often in their cinematic adaptations, however. This is for generally obvious reasons, not the least of which is that the rights to King's novels have been bought up by a myriad of producers, companies, and studios, none of whom would be too interested in sharing with each other too blatantly. That said, the increased popularity of cinematic universes has seen recent King adaptations embrace this element more and more, either as an Easter egg (as seen in Mike Flanagan's "Gerald's Game") or as part of the text, as with Hulu's "Castle Rock" series.

HBO Max's "It: Welcome to Derry" hews close to the latter, as the series has embraced as many Kingverse connections as possible. To be fair, most of these are characters and incidents that appear in King's 1986 novel "It." Yet the show has opened the door to Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) having the ability to experience time and space in an unusual manner, something that was especially referenced in the season finale. "The Conjuring" films have their own extended universe of characters and franchises, never mind the fact that the principal figures of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are based on real-life people. However, a cheeky bit of set design seen in "The Conjuring: Last Rites" could be a sneaky Easter egg reference to the "It" universe, thus tying two massive spooky universes together. Regardless of whether it hints at something larger or it's just for fun, it's pretty intriguing.

The "It" Easter egg appears during a scene about mid-way through "The Conjuring: Last Rites," in which the Smurl family is still blissfully unaware of the demonic spirit that has recently entered their home. During a family breakfast, Dawn (Beau Gadsdon) has a bad reaction to some breakfast cereal as the vessel of the demon (a cursed mirror) is thrown into the trash. As it happens, the cereal Dawn was eating is called "Penny Loops," and the box cover features a cartoon clown mascot with an unnervingly large smile. The clown is not Pennywise from "It" per se; the Penny Loops clown has blue hair with only a bit of red in his center, as well as a different costume. Yet the name of the cereal, along with the mention on the box of a "Penny Carnival Cutout," makes the reference to Pennywise pretty clear.

Of course, this cereal box is intended as just a reference to the version of Pennywise as seen in the "It" films and "Welcome to Derry," rather than any actual shared universe crossover. It's also a bit of a double reference, as it not only alludes to Pennywise, but the presence of a creepy clown harkens back to the original "The Conjuring," in which the Perron family haunting was centered around a music box with a pop-up creepy clown figure. Still, while this reference is just for fun, the idea of Ed and Lorraine Warren visiting Derry is a fun one. Who knows what lies ahead in the second season of "Welcome to Derry," the next "Conjuring" venture, or both. As King fans know, all things serve the beam eventually.