Welcome to Derry star Taylour Paige on the show’s real world themes: ‘people watching can connect to it in a stronger way’

Welcome to Derry is my latest HBO Max obsession. I’ve always been a huge Stephen King fan, and his huge book IT is packed full of lore, so I was delighted when a TV adaptation of it arrived on one of the best streaming services.

Horror fans love Pennywise, the main antagonist, but the beauty of Stephen King’s world is that there’s horror in human nature too. Welcome to Derry is now four episodes in, and I’m already gripped by the normal everyday characters living there.

Recently, I got the chance to talk to star Taylour Paige during a roundtable with other journalists. She plays the role of Charlotte Hanlon, a wife and mother who recently moved to Derry with her family. She is described as “fighting for what is right”, no easy task for a Black woman in 1962, even when you don’t factor in the supernatural threats.

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Taylour praised series creators Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, and spoke about how the exploration of real-life societal issues, such as racism, sexism, and mental health, enhanced the series as a whole and made audiences connect with it more.

She said: “It’s a really creative way to expand on the story itself, I think if you add the true elements of our country’s history and even world history, and what people have gone through, I think that people watching it can connect to it in a stronger way and perhaps even find themselves caring for the characters a bit more.”

“You can really show the characters going through something that perhaps you’ve gone through or you know somebody in your family has experienced in their lifetime. And they’ve attached themselves to that person having that experience on screen.”

Charlotte comes to town with her husband Leroy, played by Jovan Adepo (Image credit: HBO Max)

So far, Welcome to Derry viewers have spent a lot of time with characters like Charlotte and her family, instead of solely focusing on Pennywise and his torment of the town. Even after a few episodes, I feel like I do have a deeper understanding of the Derry residents, going beyond what the book was able to show.

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Speaking about her characterization, Paige said she drew on many of her own experiences to bring that real humanness to the series.

She said: “I am a woman and I feel like being a woman is kind of almost always being on the verge. I feel like we have a sense of the veil that could be lifted. I have been hysterical or I felt like I know something and my outer world is kind of telling me not to trust myself. I’ve been gas lit, I’ve been made to feel like my thoughts are silly, or I should suppress them to keep peace, and that is really infuriating.”

We’ve watched Charlotte struggle to deal with many aspects about Derry, leading me and many fans to worry about what might happen to her. This was a complex role for Paige to play, and she noted that she made sure Charlotte acted very differently depending on who she was with.

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“I had a lot bubbling underneath. The way that I walked, her articulation, the way I’d speak to people of color versus the way I’d speak to the white people, like, I took all of that, all that I know, Taylour of the world and the way in which I’ve survived and applied that to a 1962 woman coming undone.”

Welcome to Derry continues to air weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET, and I eagerly tune in to see what terrible things will happen. But beyond that, I have definitely come to care for the characters, and I’m worried what Pennywise might put them through.

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