IT: Welcome to Derry will premiere on HBO Max right in time for Halloween
Welcome to Derry at a glance:
The HBO series is a prequel to the It movies, based on the novel by Stephen King
Welcome to Derry will premiere in October 2025
Pennywise, the killer clown, will be portrayed by Bill Skarsgård
Buckle up, as the iconic creepy clown Pennywise is ready to hunt this October.
The demonic creature, brought to life in Stephen King’s novel, first came to our screens in 1990 in a TV miniseries, simply titled IT. Nearly 20 years after Tim Curry made a generation of children terrified, Pennywise returned to scare a fresh generation of viewers. The remake was also titled IT (2017) and the follow-up IT: Chapter Two (2019). Both films were hits, and as such, HBO decided to create a series prequel – Welcome to Derry.
The series is overseen by a trio of showrunners: director of IT and IT: Chapter Two, Andrés Muschietti, producer Bárbara Muschietti, and screenwriter Jason Fuchs. Thanks to a recently released trailer, you can get a sneak peek of the upcoming horror show.
If you want to learn more about its production, keep reading our article. You can also read our review of another Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk, and why it’s “horrifying in all the ways that matter”.
What is the release date for Welcome to Derry?
The It prequel will arrive on HBO Max on Sunday, 26 October 2025. It will consist of nine episodes.
The series was scheduled to premiere earlier. However, HBO was forced to postpone the release due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023.
Who is starring in Welcome to Derry?
Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in both movies, will reprise his role in the HBO series.
The series will also feature:
Jovan Adepo as Leroy HanlonChris Chalk as Dick HallorannTaylour Paige as Charlotte HanlonJames Remar as Clint BowersStephen RiderMadeleine StoweKimberly GuerreroDorian GreyThomas MitchellBJ HarrisonPeter OuterbridgeShane MarriottChad RookJoshua OdjickMorningstar Angeline
Here are the first images depicting characters from the series:
Since Welcome to Derry is set decades before the events shown in the films, we won’t see the same characters in the new series.
What is the plot of Welcome to Derry?
As mentioned, the HBO series is a prequel to the movie IT and IT: Chapter Two. The show will take viewers back to the small town of Derry, where the demonic Pennywise used to hunt. However, this time, the bloody events will take place in the 1960s.
The series will likely explain how Pennywise appeared in Derry. As we can see in the first teaser, the show will be centred around a group of kids, who will be targeted by the ancient evil – just as they were in the films.
As the series co-showrunner Andrés Muschietti said (via Collider):
It’s a story that’s based on the interludes of the book. The interludes are basically chapters that reflect Mike Hanlon’s research. They’re fragments of his research. For 27 years, it’s the guy trying to figure out what it is, what did it, who did it, who saw it, and all that stuff… So they talk about catastrophic events from the past, like the fire in the Black Spot… the massacre of the Bradley Gang, a gang of bank robbers in the ‘30s… and the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks. Every time [Pennywise] comes out of hibernation, there is a catastrophic event that happens at the beginning of that cycle.
Is there a trailer for Welcome to Derry?
The latest trailer for the series teases the disappearing children and other horrors hiding in the small American town:
In the first teaser trailer for Welcome to Derry, something disturbing appears in the idyllic town:
HBO also released short clips promoting the show.
Here’s the first clip:
Here’s the second one:
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