‘IT: Welcome to Derry’s Stephen Rider Says Strike Was “Biggest Blessing” For Developing Onscreen Dynamic With Amanda Christine

While the creators of IT: Welcome to Derry had their work cut out for them after the Hollywood strikes, star Stephen Rider benefitted from the downtime.

The actor, who plays wrongfully convicted movie projectionist Hank Grogan in the HBO series, noted that during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, he and his onscreen daughter Amanda Christine (Ronnie) amid the break from filming.

“I talk to them all the time. I still talk to Amanda, we talk. Like that’s my family,” he said on The Official It: Welcome to Derry Podcast. “And I think the biggest blessing beyond that, in a lot of ways, was the strike. Because it allowed all of us to really sit with these relationships and we would FaceTime each other and talk. And she would tell me, her being a little young, like my niece … dealing with life. You know what I’m saying? But it allowed us to build an intimate relationship.”

Rider continued, “And we had only filmed a little bit before we went on strike. I think the biggest blessing is that we came back and we had a genuine relationship that transcended, just me and her. Our families know each other, and we still talk. And so, I love Amanda. And I didn’t have to pretend on loving her. Now, of course, I had to personalize that because she’s still not my daughter. But the fact that we learned how to love each other, and more so, especially for Black women, she had to learn how to trust me. And I think it was important for me to allow her to recognize that she could lean on me, she could depend on me, and I was consistent, and I would show up, not just on set, but show up. And because of it, I believe we were able to hopefully transcend what the pages quote unquote said.”

Co-creator Barbara Muschietti previously estimated that “90% of three episodes” had been filmed before production shut down amid the strikes, creating several logistical issues for the show’s storyline.

“We suddenly had to work in different seasons,” she explained earlier this month. “This is a summer show, but suddenly it wasn’t a summer show any more. We had to create a different finale with a different climate.”

Additionally, Muschietti noted, “The kids were growing. Voices were changing. Schedules of actors suddenly became hellish. So it was a huge challenge for the studio as well.”

The strikes ended when the WGA reached an agreement with the AMPTP in September 2023, followed by SAG-AFTRA that November.