The official teaser for HBO’s original series IT: Welcome to Derry opens with a young hitchhiker walking down a snowy road on a cold night. When a friendly couple offers him a lift and asks where he’d like to go, he replies, “Anywhere but Derry.” If you are a longtime Stephen King fan, you would instantly recognise this infamous fictional town. But did you know that it isn’t entirely imaginary? Yes, behind Derry, Maine, lies a real place, filled with streets and landmarks that shaped King’s vision. Want to know more? Keep scrolling to find out all about the real town that gave its image to Maine’s fictional Derry in the IT universe.
An integral part of the King-verse, Derry serves not only as the setting for IT’s terrifying events but also appears in several of King’s other books. These include Insomnia (1994), Bag of Bones (1998) and 11/22/63 (2011). References to Derry are also seen in movies such as The Running Man (1987) and Pet Sematary (2019).
All about the real place that inspired the fictional town of Derry, Maine, in the IT universe
Visit the town everyone’s dying to see. #ITWelcomeToDerry pic.twitter.com/zHj2Q6E2Un
— IT: Welcome to Derry 🎈🎈 (@ITMovieOfficial) September 30, 2025
Did you know that it wasn’t in Maine, but in Boulder, Colorado where Stephen King first conceived the idea for IT? However, King always knew the story would ultimately take shape in Bangor, Maine — the town that would go on to serve as the eerie blueprint for Derry.
In a 2017 interview with BangorDailyNews, King said, “I wanted it to be in Maine, because that’s the place I knew. Also, unlike Boulder, Maine towns and cities have histories going back hundreds of years.”
Stephen King’s love for Maine
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated, his mother moved the family to Durham, Maine, when Stephen was 11 years old.
King’s connection to Maine ran deep, even during his university years. While studying for his English degree at the University of Maine in Orono, he wrote a weekly column for The Maine Campus. He graduated in 1970 and married fellow writer Tabitha Spruce the following year.
In the autumn of 1974, the couple relocated from Maine to Boulder, Colorado. It was there that the first spark for IT emerged. Yet, when they returned to Maine in the summer of 1975, King once again found inspiration in the familiar landscapes and close-knit communities of his home state.
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What made King choose Bangor, Maine, as his inspiration for Derry?
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By 1979, Stephen and Tabitha were ready to settle permanently and began searching for a place to call home.
Reflecting on that decision during his acceptance speech for the 1992 annual award from the Bangor Chamber of Commerce, King shared that they had explored homes in both Portland’s Bramhall district and on West Broadway in Bangor. Tabitha had visited Bangor’s library as a child, while King had often travelled to the town during his university years. Ultimately, they chose Bangor for its sense of community and rich history.
Additionally, in the aforementioned BangorDailyNews interview, King said, “I wanted Bangor because it was a tougher, harder place, with its history of loggers, the thing about the Brady Gang shoot-out, and all those fightin’ bars like the Silver Dollar that used to be down at the waterfront. Also, the geography seemed right. So we moved to Bangor, where we’ve been ever since. It was good for the book and good for us.”
King began work on his 22nd book, IT (1986), not long after moving into his new house in Bangor in August 1980. In a 2009 interview with TIME, King said, “So I went around town for one whole fall, and I asked people what they knew about various places that I wanted to incorporate into the book. And I would listen to the stories.”
More about Bangor, Maine
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Bangor, located in central Maine, is the county seat of Penobscot County, United States. The city is renowned for its picturesque Greek Revival homes and Victorian mansions. Set along the Penobscot River, Bangor today thrives as a tourism centre, offering a mix of outdoor activities and cultural attractions.
Several real-life locations around Bangor directly inspired scenes in King’s IT universe. The Thomas Hill Standpipe, a 1897 water tower holding a whopping 1.75 million gallons of water, became the model for the haunted and ominous tower in the story. It is said that King often wrote on a bench in the small park at its base.
The infamous sewer drain where Pennywise first meets Georgie Denbrough with his chilling “Hiya, Georgie” was inspired by a real drain at the corner of Union and Jackson Streets, just a short walk from the Standpipe.
The city is also home to a 31-foot Paul Bunyan statue on Main Street. It was built in 1959 and is prominently positioned in front of the Cross Insurance Center. In IT, the statue comes to life to attack Richie Tozier after being possessed by an evil spirit.
For fans eager to explore King’s eerie muse, if you ever find yourself in New England, The Derry, Maine Tour by SK Tours offers a two-and-a-half-hour journey through Bangor’s most recognisable spots. Visitors can discover where King lived, wrote and drew inspiration for some of IT’s most unforgettable scenes. Just be careful not to peek inside any of the sewer drains. You never know when a red balloon might appear!
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About IT: Welcome to Derry
IT: Welcome to Derry is a prequel series by HBO Max expanding the terrifying universe first created by Stephen King. Set in the 1960s, decades before the events of IT (2017) and IT Chapter Two (2019), the horror drama delves into the origins of Derry’s sinister curse and the rise of the ancient evil known as Pennywise, the Dancing Clown.
Developed by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, IT: Welcome to Derry premiered on HBO on 26 October 2025.
The series features an ensemble cast including Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon, Jovan Adepo as Leroy Hanlon, Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann and James Remar as General Shaw.
(Hero and Featured image credit: hbomax/Instagram)
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.