We were joined on the Popternative show by Joshua Odjick who can be seen in two new Stephen King-based projects. In September, Odjick was seen as Collie Parker in The Long Walk which premiered in theaters and followed a group of teenage boys who participate in a brutal contest: keep walking or be killed. Odjick played one of the contestants alongside Garraty (Cooper Hoffman), Peter McVries (David Jonsson), Gary Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), Hank Olson (Ben Wang), Thomas Curley (Roman Griffin Davis), Arthur Baker (Tut Nyuot), Billy Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), and Richard Harkness (Jordan Gonzalez).
A month after The Long Walk‘s release, the highly anticipated prequel horror series, IT: Welcome to Derry, premiered on HBO Max on October 26. Set in the world of Stephen King’s IT universe, the series is set in 1962 and expands stories established by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs in the feature films It and It Chapter Two.
Bill Skarsgård reprises his role as the terrifying Pennywise from IT and IT Chapter Two, and the series also stars Taylour Paige (Zola), Jovan Adepo (Fences), Chris Chalk (Perry Mason), James Remar (Dexter), Clara Stack (The Naughty Nine), Stephen Rider (Daredevil), Amanda Christine (Black Box), Madeleine Stow (Revenge), Blake Cameron James (We Grown Now), Rudy Mancuso (Música), Miles Ekhardt (Turtles All the Way Down), Arian S. Cartaya (Juego de mentiras), Matilda Lawler (Station Eleven), Mikkal Karim-Fidler (Boy in the Walls), Kimberly Guerrero (Reservation Dogs), Maya McNair (Clarice), Maya Misaljevic (Seven Veils), Hannah Storey (Thanksgiving), Jack Molloy Legault (Home Sweet Home Alone), and Matilda Legault (Beacon 23).
Odjick plays a local of Derry named Taniel who has a very important connection to the lore behind Pennywise’s backstory and the town of Derry itself. Odjick sees some differences and one similarity between Collie and Taniel:
“I feel like Taniel and Collie’s hair is very present and that’s what I like to think that I brought that was the same. But Taniel and Collie are two different sides of the same coin. One stands up for others, is more righteous that way, then the other one is self-righteous where he’s doing it for his own greed. Collie wanted to win and things started changing as he started losing friends and realizing [he was] isolated. Taniel is more protective, he has a mission; he was basically groomed to be a medicine man to protect that area of the woods, he doesn’t want to let his ancestors down. It’s been through generations and millennia and he has a responsibility.”
Watch the full conversation with Joshua Odjick below.
A new episode of IT: Welcome to Derry airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max through December 14.
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