Stephen Rider on Derry, Denzel, and Chasing Big Dreams
Stephen Rider opens up about his role in HBO’s ‘It: Welcome to Derry’, his journey from working with Denzel Washington to his hopes for the future, and why he’s not fussed about what he doesn’t have.
HBO’s much-hyped prequel, It: Welcome to Derry, might sound like it’s treading familiar ground, but it’s managed to carve out its own space. While some punters might’ve tuned in hoping for a Pennywise showcase, the series is more than just a clown with a taste for chaos. Set in 1962, the story follows Major Leroy Hanlon and his wife Charlotte as they settle into Derry, only to find the town’s got more secrets than a footy club locker room. Among the locals is Hank Grogan, played by Stephen Rider—a projectionist and family bloke who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, copping the blame for a crime he didn’t commit. Charlotte’s the only one in his corner as things go pear-shaped.
Andy Muschietti’s two It films raked in over a billion at the box office, and the buzz hasn’t died down. Welcome to Derry landed as HBO’s third biggest premiere, just behind House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. Rider’s stoked about the response.
“It’s overwhelming,”
he told Far Out.
“We had a feeling that we have something special on our hands. But, I know that the audience is always the last character in everything that you do, and so it really comes down to whether or not people like it. And it’s so cool to have, you know, the artwork that you’re seeing, the comments, and how people are really into it.”
He reckons it’s surreal to see fans rallying behind his character, with hashtags like #FreeHank popping up. For Rider, being part of a show that’s become a pop culture hit is a dream come true.
Landing the Role and Unfinished Business
Rider’s got a bit of history with the It universe. He nearly landed the part of adult Mike Hanlon in It Chapter Two, only to see it go to Isaiah Mustafa. So when Welcome to Derry came up, he felt a mix of fate and unfinished business.
“The good thing is, testing with Andy and working with him, one: He’s just a lovely person. He’s also like a kid, the way his mind thinks, his imagination, the way he gets excited about things, so I felt like I had a really great sense of him, and also the way in which he operates. And so when I got this audition, I felt like I had an authority, because I knew something that, probably, a lot of people auditioning didn’t know.”
That confidence paid off—he sent in his audition tape on a Friday and was reading lines in person by Tuesday. Looking back, he reckons Hank was always the role meant for him, even if missing out on Chapter Two stung at the time. Muschietti had emailed him after that first audition, saying he hoped they’d work together one day.
“It was very sweet, and I could tell it was very genuine,”
Rider said. When Welcome to Derry came around, he was sure it was his shot.
“I knew it was mine, as a matter of fact,”
he said, crediting a bit of journaling and his wife’s encouragement for helping him land the gig.
Finding Hank: Character, Context, and Culture
The opening scene of Welcome to Derry is a wild ride—think flying demon babies and plenty of gore—but the show quickly shifts focus to its characters. For Rider, the challenge was playing Hank straight, even as the world around him went off the rails.
“Of course, I know where the show is going, and at the same time, my job is to make sure that I do my part right. It’s like soccer or basketball, or any team sport. You’re only as good as you are if you do your job, and hopefully, as a whole, everybody else does their job. My goal was to enliven and to reveal Hank, and to reveal the relationship between Hank and his family.”
He dug deep into the era, drawing on his own family’s experiences to ground the character.
“I mean, he’s a projectionist. It’s 1962. I think it’s very easy to be like, well, ‘He loves movies.’ Well, he might love movies, but in 1962, he didn’t have a choice to find and do what he loved to do, right? It’s just not the case. We come from a generation now, where we get to do what we love to do, but our parents and our grandparents did what they had to do.”
Rider also made sure the Grogan family home felt authentic, suggesting touches from his own upbringing to the set designers.
“They’re also not Black people from the States. That’s not their world; that’s my world,”
he explained, wanting the set to reflect the lived reality of a Black family in 1960s America.
Career Beginnings, Denzel’s Advice, and Looking Ahead
Rider’s first film role was in 2007’s The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington. He’d already auditioned for Washington’s earlier film, Antwone Fisher, but missed out. Denzel’s advice stuck with him:
“You have something, but you need to go to school and get your tools, because once you have your tools, people can’t take them away from you.”
Rider took that to heart, heading to uni and later working in theatre before landing the part. Washington’s support has meant the world to him.
“He’s always been in my corner ever since; that’s my ride or die. I love that man. Point blank. Period. He gave me an opportunity to have a career, and I don’t believe I would have a career if it wasn’t for him, not even a question. My GOAT. My GOAT, always.”
On telly, Rider ticked off the classic rite of passage with a spot on NCIS: Los Angeles—while feeling crook, no less. He later found a bigger audience as Blake Tower in Daredevil and Luke Cage. With the Marvel shows now on Disney+, he’s open to returning, but reckons even bigger things are on the horizon.
“I genuinely believe what’s cooking up in my life is going to be even bigger than that.”
Mindset, Ambition, and What Comes Next
Rider’s not one to dwell on what’s missing in the industry.
“You can’t worry about what you don’t have,”
he says. He’s focused on what’s in front of him, believing that a positive outlook brings more opportunities.
“How I approach things I’m in the business of, there’s a lot of abundance and prosperity for me, and the more I have the mentality of what possibilities I can create, the more things I believe come to me. So I don’t care. It don’t matter to me. I’m going to work. I believe I’m about to work way more than I’ve ever worked in my life.”
As for dream roles, he’s got his sights set high: starring in a prestige film, winning an Oscar, and working with a cast that feels like mates.
“I don’t live in the past, and I’m not trying to replicate anybody else’s career. I think mine’s good enough.”