Horror fans, get your Halloween viewing schedules set! HBO is taking us back to Derry, Maine, with the highly anticipated It: Welcome to Derry.
Developed for television by Andy Muschietti (director of It and It: Chapter Two), alongside his sister Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, this prequel series dives deep into Stephen King’s lore. Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane serve as co-showrunners, crafting a story based on Mike Hanlon’s research into Derry, its residents, and the chilling sightings of It.
This season kicks off a trilogy exploring the cataclysmic events in Derry’s history. Dates are adjusted to fit the timeline of Muschietti’s films, starting with the Black Spot fire in 1962, then flashing back to the Bradley Gang massacre in 1935, and the Kitchener Ironworks explosion in 1908. Each cycle of disappearances, deaths, and violence culminates in one of these incidents, a final bloodbath before the terror takes a 27-year hiatus.
Since Muschietti’s It is set in 1989, Welcome to Derry is set in early 1962, 27 years before the Losers’ Club faces their fears. The pilot episode immediately sets a dark tone: Matty (Miles Ekhardt), a young boy hoping to escape his abusive home life, hitches a ride with a deceptively normal-looking family and vanishes. Classic Derry.
Months later, Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) arrives in Maine with his friend, Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso), to work under General Shaw (James Remar) at the Derry Air Force Base (D.A.F.B.). He’s soon joined by his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), an activist and stay-at-mom, and his charming and nerdy son, Will (Blake Cameron James).
Before we meet Will, we see his future classmate Lilly (Clara Stack) battling her own demons, specifically the loss of a parent. She’s not as close to her best friend Margie (Matilda Lawler), who’s torn between popularity and being a supportive friend. Lilly’s mourning for Matty brings her together with Teddy (Mikkal Karim Fidler) and Phil (Jack Molloy Legault). Ronnie (Amanda Christine), daughter of Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), a projectionist at the Capitol theater, joins the group, alongside Will and his friend Rich (Arian S. Cartaya).
We meet many characters, some new, some familiar. It’s a lot to take in, especially if you’re not familiar with King’s world. But remember, this is a prequel – not everyone makes it to the end!
The story unfolds from different perspectives: Major Hanlon’s top-secret work at the Air Base, Will and his new trauma-bonded friends, and Charlotte, who gets to know her new, unsettling town. She witnesses menacing characters and is shocked by the kid-on-kid violence, leading her to intervene, only to be met with chilling stares.
Viewers may gravitate towards one perspective over another, but the show balances the narratives well. Through Rose (Kimberly Norris Guerrero), a secondhand shop owner, and her nephew, Daniel (Joshua Odjick), the series also spotlights the Native American community and their own history with the entity.
Major Hanlon also encounters Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), a familiar face from the Stephen King universe, previously played by Scatman Crothers in The Shining and Carl Lumbly in Doctor Sleep. In Welcome to Derry, Hallorann is an airman using his special abilities to find the source of the 27-year cycles.
This new group of tormented youngsters, though riding bikes and hunting a shapeshifter, aren’t simply rehashing the Losers’ Club’s plans. Some story beats are similar: each kid experiences nightmarish encounters and eventually bands together because the adults don’t believe them.
The young actors deliver strong performances, but their chemistry isn’t always palpable when they’re in a group. If they look different throughout the series, it’s because the kids grew between wrapping for the strikes and returning to filming.
While Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård, also an executive producer) doesn’t immediately appear, the evil entity takes on creatively terrifying forms to torment Derry’s children. The build-up makes his eventual arrival all the more exciting.
The Muschiettis and team deliver plenty of nightmare fuel scenarios and creatures within the first ten minutes, complete with wild body horror. The slimy, squelchy sound design and grotesque imagery stand out, but the scares are sometimes overpowered by loud noises. The movies were also guilty of this, but the series really amps it up.
It: Welcome to Derry is an immersive prequel series that balances compelling narratives and characters with blood-soaked horror and disgusting effects. The show succeeds in adapting the best-selling novel and expanding on the mythos of the cursed town.
It: Welcome to Derry will debut on October 26, 2025, on HBO and HBO Max, with weekly episodes through December 14.
