9: Watching IT: Welcome to Derry Bonus Interview with Stephen Rider (Hank Grogan)
Watching IT: Welcome to DerryShow Notes
Breznican and Vespe are back for one more episode of Watching IT: Welcome to Derry and this time they’re joined by one of the show’s cast members: Mr. Stephen Rider who played the wrongfully persecuted Hank Grogan, father of Ronnie Grogan, lover of Ingrid Kersh, and the movie geek projectionist who ended up being a convenient scapegoat for the town’s authorities to blame for the disappearance of a bunch of kids.
We talk to Rider about his role and get into the nitty gritty of building this character. Why does Hank Grogan love movies so much? What was it like filming that crazy finale? And when was the first time this character saw something supernatural? The answer to that last one may surprise you as he talks about a run-in with Pennywise that Hank has that the audience never gets to see.
Of course we also can’t help but dig into the Stephen King of it all as well, including how reading the book helped shape his approach to Hank Grogan.
Enjoy this extra special interview episode that caps off our coverage of Season 1 of IT: Welcome to Derry. Hopefully we’ll be back for Season 2. We’re always watching…
Shout out to Watching IT: Welcome to Derry’s sponsor Black Magic Design, the makers of professional level cameras, equipment, and post production services at consumer level prices.
More from Watching IT: Welcome to Derry
Pennywise is on the move and all the storylines converge to stop It before it’s too late. In this new episode of Watching IT: Welcome to Derry, our co-hosts Anthony Breznican and Eric Vespe take in the finale and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the whole season. The last puzzle piece is in place, so how does this first season stack up?
We’ve made it to the penultimate episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled The Black Spot, and, to put it delicately, the poo-poo is hitting the fan. The end of Pennywise the Dancing Clown’s 1962 cycle is upon us and that means it’s time to get ready for some real carnage.
In Episode 6 of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled In the Name of the Father we get a deeper look at Mrs. Kersh’s backstory, Lilly keeps looking crazy to her class mates, and there’s a real promise of revealing the origins of Pennywise’s human alter ego, Bob Gray. Marge and Rich have a meet-cute over her mutilated eyeball and Will finally stands up to his justifiably worried father.
All the pieces are set, the kids are getting stoned, the adults are arming up, and everyone is converging at the Derry sewer system in Episode 5 of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled Neibolt Street. What happens when ITs home is bum rushed by the whole cast of this show? Well, let’s just say nobody’s gonna have a good time in those sewers.
The latest episode of HBO Max’s IT: Welcome to Derry has everything: eye trauma, racial injustice, psychic probes, evil white people screwing things up for everybody, at least two red balloon sightings, and, say it with me, familial trauma represented as horror!