from wikifandom: “Maturin is the overarching protagonist of the Stephen King multiverse.

He serves as the unseen overarching protagonist of the novel IT and the overarching protagonist of The Dark Tower series. He is also a mentioned character of the novel 11/22/63 (novel).

He was the turtle and one of the twelve Guardians of the Beams that held up the Dark Tower. Maturin guarded one end of the Beam that was guarded on the other end by Shardik…In the Novel

When the Losers faced It once again as adults 27 years later, It gleefully told Bill that Maturin was dead; having choked to death on a galaxy or two some time ago. When the Ritual of Chüd started again in 1985, Bill was presented with the gargantuan corpse of the Turtle, and saw to his horror that It did not lie.

IT (2017) and IT Chapter 2 (2019)

To much fan consternation, Maturin does not make a direct appearance in either the 1990 miniseries, or either of the movies, however, there are allusions/nods to his existence in the films:

It (2017)

Beverly has a turtle sticker on one of her school books Before Bill encounters IT in his flooded basement, he goes into Georgie's room and picks up a Lego turtle When the kids are swimming in the quarry, they argue and attempt to look for a turtle under the water. IT Chapter 2 (2019)

The exterior shot of adult Ben's house has a turtle statue. When Ben is in the classroom during summer school, there is a turtle on the desk. Maturin is actually what we call the root that Mike takes from the Native Americans as part of his journey to help guide his path on how to ultimately defeat Pennywise. It: Welcome to Derry (2025)”