The HBO horror series IT: Welcome to Derry is exploring the earlier nightmares of the town of Derry. In episode three, a crucial flashback shows a young boy named Francis encountering a terrifying entity in the woods. This scene is significant for the story, but it also holds a fun surprise for fans of another popular show. The actor playing young Francis is Diesel La Torraca, who many viewers will recognize as Austin Miller from Netflix’s hit series Ginny & Georgia.
Diesel La Torraca’s Dual Roles in Major TV Shows
Diesel La Torraca is a 14-year-old actor who has quickly become a recognizable face on screen. He was born in Australia and began his acting career at a very young age. For most of his career, he has been known for playing Austin Miller, the sensitive younger brother on the Netflix comedy-drama Ginny & Georgia. The show follows the life of a single mother, Georgia Miller, and her two children, Ginny and Austin, as they navigate family secrets and small-town life in Wellsbury, Massachusetts. La Torraca’s performance as Austin, a quiet boy dealing with family tensions and his own anxieties, earned him a large fanbase.
In 2025, he took on a very different kind of role. He joined the cast of the HBO horror prequel IT: Welcome to Derry as a young version of a character named Francis Shaw. This series, set in the 1960s, acts as a prequel to the recent IT films, exploring another cycle of terror inflicted by the shape-shifting creature often seen as Pennywise the Clown. This marks a major shift for the actor from family drama to full-fledged horror.
A Key Flashback Scene in Welcome to Derry
The connection between the two shows is revealed in the third episode of Welcome to Derry, titled “Now You See It”. The episode includes a flashback to the year 1908, long before the main events of the series. In this scene, a young Francis is at a fair and wanders into a mysterious magic shop. The atmosphere is dark and eerie, and Francis is frightened by an old man inside. He quickly runs out, and his father gives him a slingshot to make him feel better.
Later, while playing near the woods with a friend named Rose, young Francis ignores her warnings and ventures in alone. He becomes lost and is confronted by a terrifying, monstrous form of IT. The creature chases him, and just as he is about to be attacked, Rose arrives and uses the slingshot to help him escape. This traumatic childhood experience with the evil of Derry is a foundational moment for his character, who returns to the town decades later as an adult.
From Wellsbury Family Drama to Derry Horror
For viewers, seeing Diesel La Torraca in this scary context is a stark contrast to his role in Ginny & Georgia. As Austin Miller, he plays a modern-day kid who loves Harry Potter, struggles to fit in at school, and is fiercely loyal to his mother and sister. His storylines often deal with the fallout of his mother’s secrets and the complicated relationship with his biological father.
In Welcome to Derry, he portrays a boy living in early 20th-century Maine, facing a literal monster. Despite the vastly different genres—one a teen and family drama, the other a supernatural horror—La Torraca brings a similar vulnerability and authenticity to both roles. This ability to handle such different characters shows his range as a young actor and makes his appearance in the Stephen King prequel a clever piece of casting that bridges two popular television worlds.
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More About IT: Welcome to Derry
IT: Welcome to Derry premiered on HBO on October 26, 2025. The series is set in 1962, which is 27 years before the events of the 2017 film IT: Chapter One. It follows a new group of children and adults in Derry as they begin to experience the return of the ancient evil that feeds on the town’s fears. The show features a mix of new characters and some familiar faces from Stephen King’s universe, including Dick Hallorann from The Shining and members of the Hanlon family, who are ancestors of Mike Hanlon from the original Losers’ Club.
The adult version of Francis Shaw is played by veteran actor James Remar, who portrays General Francis Shaw, a high-ranking officer at the local Air Force base. The flashback scene with La Torraca establishes the character’s first traumatic connection to the evil in Derry, which clearly shapes the man he becomes.
More About Ginny & Georgia
For those who know La Torraca from his horror role first, his other major project is a global hit on Netflix. Ginny & Georgia first premiered in February 2021 and has released three seasons. The show was created by Sarah Lampert and stars Brianne Howey as Georgia Miller and Antonia Gentry as her daughter, Ginny. The third season, which continues the story of Georgia’s arrest and murder trial, was released on June 5, 2025. The series has been a major success for Netflix and was renewed for a third and fourth season in 2023.
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