Doctor Sleep contains a great Easter egg reference to The Shining early on that seems to setup something big, only to never pay off at all. While Doctor Sleep is an adaptation of Stephen King's book of the same name, it also functions as a sequel to director Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1980 movie version of The Shining. That's a thin line to walk, as King has always hated The Shining movie, and Kubrick's film differs from King's book in a myriad of ways.
Once the decision was made to have the Doctor Sleep movie follow Kubrick's The Shining instead of King's The Shining, that necessitated some alterations to the plot of the Doctor Sleep book. For one, the Overlook Hotel was left standing in Kubrick's film, while King's book blew it up. Additionally, while Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) froze to death trying to murder his family onscreen, in the book, Jack gets a moment of redemption that allows the Overlook's malevolent spirits to be defeated.
Director Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep movie also contains copious bits of fanservice and Easter egg references included to make sure devotees of Stanley Kubrick's Shining leave the sequel with a smile on their face. Perhaps the best Easter egg comes early on, when Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) meets with Dr. John Dalton (Bruce Greenwood) in an office that looks strikingly similar to a room in The Shining. It seems to be setting up a plot twist, but instead is nothing more than a red herring.
Doctor Sleep: Dr. Dalton's Office Recreates Mr. Ullman's Office From The Shining
At the start of Doctor Sleep's narrative, Danny Torrance is drowning in alcoholism, and doing his best to suppress his psychic abilities. Things for Danny turn around when he travels to a new town, makes a new friend, and is subsequently encouraged to attend AA meetings. Running the meetings is Dr. John Dalton, who takes a liking to Danny and offers him a job as an orderly at a hospice facility. Dalton offers Danny the job during a conversation in his office, which looks nearly identical to Mr. Ullman's office in The Shining. It was in that office that Ullman first informed Jack about the Overlook Hotel's bloody past. Some fans have surmised that Ullman was in fact working for the Overlook by luring Jack in, and a deleted alternate ending furthers that notion. Thus, when Danny is seen in the same office, the viewer immediately worries for his safety, and wonders if Dr. Dalton is to be trusted.
Doctor Sleep's Overlook Office Easter Egg Means Nothing
While the inclusion of a replica of Ullman's Shining office serves to catch the viewer's eye and seemingly foreshadows something ominous, it's actually just an Easter egg, and nothing more. Dr. Dalton is a completely trustworthy character, and never turns on Danny or manipulates him. In fact, the scene as a whole really has no further significance. A charitable interpretation would be that it symbolizes that Danny will be unable to escape the ghosts (both figurative and literal) of his past and the sins of his father, but that's kind of a reach. While a crowd-pleasing Easter egg, the identical offices moment in Doctor Sleep is nothing more than a dirty trick meant to fool the audience.