While Stranger Things has worn its Stephen King influences on its sleeve since its launch, a new theory considers whether the series shares a universe with the author’s It. According to ScreenRant, a direct link might come through Sean Astin’s character Bob Newby. This connection’s based on a conversation between Bob and Will in season 2, whereby Astin’s character describes a traumatic encounter with a clown called Mr. Baldo at a county fair in his youth.
Now, just throwing a clown reference into a series that’s made liberal uses of King’s tone and 1980s-set novels seems like a stretch to connect the two. After all, from the title cards inspired by John Carpenter’s Christine, to Eleven’s similarities to the lead in Firestarter, the Duffer Brothers are unapologetic King fans. In fact, the author even gets name-checked during the series.
The Stranger Things and It theory does have some additional points though, including that Bob suggests moving to Maine, and the timeline parallels between the 1980s and Bob’s likely childhood in the 1950s. However fun the idea is, though, it’s unfortunately one that’s long been acknowledged and seemingly dismissed by Stranger Things‘ co-creator Matt Duffer, who commented as so about Mr. Baldo the clown:
“It was one of the first true horror things I had seen, and I had not experienced Stephen King before. That was my first experience with Stephen King, so that was a really huge point in my life. 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.”
Pennywise or no Pennywise, the third season of Stranger Things will still feature plenty of horror, if the latest trailer is anything to go by. It promises a spooky treat for fans and thankfully, there’s not long to go now before it premieres, as the Netflix series will land back on the streaming platform on July 4th. That is, unless Amazon has anything to say about it.