As the spooky season looms closer, I think it’s time for us to get ready for a brand new horror TV show, one originating from one of horror fiction's most haunted locations. That’s right, I’m talking about IT: Welcome to Derry, the upcoming Stephen King adapation (sort of) heading to HBO and HBO Max.
Plenty of amazing Stephen King adaptations out there have faithfully brought his characters into live-action, but Welcome to Derry is a bit of an exception, as it'll serve as a prequel to the feature pair of IT and its Chapter Two sequel, and doesn't have standalone source material to pull from beyond unused bits of the massive novel.
So let's take a step back into Maine's spooky past to sort through everything we know so far about the spinoff IT: Welcome to Derry.
When Is IT: Welcome To Derry's Premiere Date?
At the time of this update in August 2025, IT: Welcome to Derry somehow still doesn't have a fully locked-down premiere date, but it'll definitely be available to watch and stream in October 2025, in time for Halloween festivities landing on the 2025 TV schedule. It's somewhat rare for an exciting new series like this to go so long without an official start date, but the uptick in teasers and footage is a good sign.
Check Out The First Trailer For IT: Welcome To Pennywise
The latest big trailer for IT: Welcome to Derry features a ton of new footage from the upcoming episodes, including the majority of the main characters we'll be connecting with, as well as a few hints of Pennywise's presence. For my money, that jar of pickles and fingers might be one of the most haunting things about it.
The IT: Welcome To Derry Cast
A big title like an IT prequel understandably has a large cast, and while many of the actors are younger and perhaps not quite as well-known (as it went with the miniseries and the movies), King-related projects do usually nail the casting. I think the biggest highlight amidst the group is Bill Skarsgård reprising Pennywise, and strangely enough, that's one of the only roles with a confirmed identity.
IT: Welcome To Derry's Main Cast
- Bill Skarsgård - Pennywise the Clown
- Taylour Page (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F) - Charlotte Hanlon
- Jovan Adepo (Watchmen) - Leroy Hanlon
- Chris Chalk (Gotham) - Dick Hallorann
- James Remar (Dexter)
- Stephen Rider (Daredevil)
- Madeline Stowe (Revenge)
- Rudy Mancuso (The Flash)
It: Welcome To Derry's Recurring Cast Members
Here are several other cast members who were announced to be invovled with the cast in June 2025, more than two years after the first series regulars were revealed.
- Alixandra Fuchs (Hatfields & McCoys)
- Kimberly Guerrero (Reservation Dogs)
- Tyner Rushing (For All Mankind)
- Dorian Grey (Star Trek: Discovery)
- Thomas Mitchell (V/H/S/94)
- BJ Harrison (Family Law)
- Peter Outerbridge (Sullivan's Crossing)
- Shane Marriott (The Porter)
- Chad Rook (Joe Pickett)
- Joshua Odjick (The Swarm)
- Morningstar Angeline (Outer Range)
As noted above, all of their roles so far are still being kept under wraps for now, but hopefully we won't have to wait until the episodes are airing to learn more about them and any connections they may have to other Stephen King stories.
What It: Welcome To Derry Will Be About
Welcome to Derry will dig back into Derry's past to tell of what came before and perhaps during the events of IT's dual timelines, connecting to Andy Muschietti's two films while also taking story points from the novel.
In an October 2024 interview with Entertainment Weekly, creators Andy and Barbara Muschietti opened up about what inspired them to create this series, pointing to Mike Hanlon's many interludes that Stephen King crafted in the book, saying:
This is a book we love a lot, and we felt that there was still a lot of story to be covered. It’s so rich with characters and events, we thought we would do justice to the book and the fans by going back into this world. Specifically, we are telling the stories of the interludes, writings by Mike Hanlon based on his investigation that includes interviews he conducts with the older people in the town. In Welcome to Derry, we touch on the usual themes that were talked about in the movie — friendship, loss, the power of unified belief — but this story focuses also on the use of fear as a weapon, which is one of the things that is also relevant to our times.
Okay, so this is interesting, but what does that mean for the story going forward? Well, the creators also opened up in an interview with Radio TU in January 2025 that the interludes are more like a “three-season” plan because the interludes are primarily based on Mike Hanlon’s research over the course of time:
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.
Muschietti continued to say that because the interludes are spread out over time, every instance that Pennywise came out of hibernation, that can lead them to a three-season plan:
Every time (Pennywise) comes out of hibernation, there is a catastrophic event that happens at the beginning of that cycle.There’s a reason why the story is told backwards. So the first season is 1962, the second season is 1935, and the third season is 1908.
What makes it even better is that Stephen King has told Muschietti about how much he loves the idea already. The producer talked about it in the same Radio TU interview, saying:
One day, I wrote to him and said, ‘We have this idea, which is to develop the interludes in a miniseries that will take place before the events of the movie,’ and he loved it. He said, ‘Let’s do it!’ Obviously, as we progressed, we kept showing him the work, and he approved the first draft of the script. Then we showed him where we would take the future seasons of the show. He trusts us because of what we did with the movies, which he loved as much as audiences did.
Once you have the vote of confidence from the guy responsible for creating this world, the rest is just details.
Andy And Barbara Muschietti Serve As Directors, Executive Producers And More
Andy Muschietti, who directed both IT films, returned to the IT franchise with his sister and producing partner Barbara to develop this series alongside this series' developers Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane (who's handling the Crystal Lake TV show). The latter two will serve as co-showrunners, while the elder Muschietti sibling is also set to direct several episodes in the series, including the premiere.
With Welcome to Derry coming closer to debuting on HBO and HBO Max, there's no telling what kind of traumatizing horror we'll watch these characters face, but I know I'm happy that nobody watching from home will have to worry about Pennywise showing up in our lives. At least, we hope...
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