Quick Facts Box
| Genre | Supernatural Horror, Drama |
| Network | HBO / HBO Max |
| Seasons | 1 (Season 1 complete; Seasons 2–3 planned) |
| Episodes | 8 (Season 1) |
| Premiere Date | October 26, 2025 |
| Setting | Derry, Maine — 1962 |
| Developed By | Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, Jason Fuchs |
| Rating | 18+ / TV-MA |
If you only came here for one thing, it’s probably this: It: Welcome to Derry is the prequel to the 2017 and 2019 IT movies, set in Derry in 1962, and it explains where Pennywise came from long before the Losers Club ever met him. Everything else below fills in the details.
What Is IT: Welcome to Derry About?
The story opens in January 1962. A boy vanishes from It: Welcome to Derry, Maine, and three high school friends start digging into what happened to him — right as two Air Force officers arrive in town to oversee a B-52 stationed nearby. What looks at first like a missing-persons case slowly turns into something much older and much worse.
Derry itself is the real subject of the show. Stephen King fans know the town runs on a 27-year cycle of violence, and this series picks a specific turn of that cycle to dramatize — decades before Bill, Beverly, and the rest of the Losers Club ever set foot on Neibolt Street. It’s less a monster-of-the-week horror show and more a slow unraveling of a town that has learned to look away from what happens in its own backyard.
Is Welcome to Derry Connected to the IT Movies?
Yes — directly. This isn’t a spin-off borrowing the name; it’s built by the same people who made the films. Andy Muschietti directs multiple episodes (including the pilot), his sister Barbara Muschietti serves as an executive producer, and Jason Fuchs — who co-wrote the IT films — created the series with them.
Bill Skarsgård returns as Pennywise, and the show is explicitly framed as an expansion of the film continuity, not a separate universe. It also reaches further into King’s wider mythos: expect ties to The Dark Tower, where Pennywise’s cosmic origins ultimately come from.
Here’s the planned structure across future seasons:
- Season 1 — set in 1962
- Season 2 — set in 1935, expanding on events referenced in Season 1
- Season 3 — a further step back in Derry’s timeline (not yet detailed)
Muschietti has described the show as a three-season project designed to work backward through Derry’s history, so each season isn’t a random new story — it’s another layer of the town’s past.
Full Cast & Characters
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Bill Skarsgård | Pennywise |
| Jovan Adepo | Leroy Hanlon |
| Chris Chalk | Dick Hallorann |
| Taylour Paige | Charlotte Hanlon |
| James Remar | General Shaw |
| Madeleine Stowe | Rose |
| Stephen Rider | Major Ted Cooper |
| Rudy Mancuso | Captain Pauly Russo |
| Blake Cameron James | Will Hanlon |
| Amanda Christine | Lilly |
| Matilda Lawler | Phil |
| Arian S. Cartaya | Teddy |
| Clara Stack | Susie |
Guest and recurring appearances vary by episode — for example, Rudy Mancuso and Alixandra Fuchs both appear in multiple early episodes in supporting capacities.
Episode Guide (Season 1)
Season 1 ran for eight episodes, airing weekly on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET, with same-day streaming on HBO Max.
| # | Title | Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Pilot | October 26, 2025 |
| 2 | The Thing in the Dark | October 31, 2025 (early Halloween release) |
| 3 | Now You See It | November 9, 2025 |
| 4 | The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function | November 16, 2025 |
| 5 | 29 Neibolt Street | November 23, 2025 |
| 6 | In the Name of the Father | November 30, 2025 |
| 7 | The Black Spot | December 7, 2025 |
| 8 | Winter Fire | December 14, 2025 |
Season 2 is confirmed and will be set in 1935. Season 3 has been discussed as part of the overall plan but doesn’t have a confirmed timeline yet.
Where to Watch IT: Welcome to Derry
The series streams on HBO Max, with new episodes also airing on the HBO linear channel. There’s no separate purchase required — it’s included with an HBO Max subscription, and episodes remain available to stream after their broadcast slot.
If you’re comparing streaming plans in India, check current HBO Max/regional partner pricing before you commit, since bundled or discounted rates change often and vary by provider.
Behind the Scenes
Who made it: Andy Muschietti directed several episodes including the premiere, with Jason Fuchs serving as a writer and co-showrunner alongside Brad Caleb Kane. Barbara Muschietti produces.
The score: Benjamin Wallfisch, who scored the IT films, returned to compose music for the series — a deliberate choice to keep the sound of Derry consistent with the movies.
How it fits the novel: The show is based on King’s original IT novel but isn’t a direct adaptation of any single section of the book. Instead, it uses the town’s 27-year cycle as a framework to build new stories the novel only hints at.
Easter Eggs & References to the Original IT
A few things worth watching for if you’ve seen the films:
- The 27-year cycle — the entire premise of jumping between 1962 and 1935 is built on Pennywise’s established pattern from the books and films.
- Familiar surnames — characters connected to the Hanlon family appear here decades before Mike Hanlon becomes part of the Losers Club, tying the generations together.
- Neibolt Street — episode five is literally titled “29 Neibolt Street,” the address every IT fan will recognize as Pennywise’s house in the films.
- Dick Hallorann — a name The Shining fans will know well, appearing here as part of the wider King multiverse the show leans into.
Reviews: Is It Worth Watching?
Short answer: yes, especially if you’re already invested in the IT films — with one caveat.
Critics responded well to the premiere, praising the production values, Muschietti’s direction, the atmosphere, and a strong twist ending. The main criticism that’s come up repeatedly is pacing around the sheer number of characters introduced early on — the show spends real time on Derry as a place and its residents as people, which pays off if you’re patient but can feel slow if you came in expecting nonstop scares.
Where the show earns its keep is atmosphere. It doesn’t lean on jump scares as a crutch — it builds dread the way the best King adaptations do, through the sense that something is deeply wrong with an entire town, not just one house or one street. If you liked how the IT films balanced childhood nostalgia against genuine horror, this series stretches that same balance across eight hours instead of two.
Where it’s less consistent: like a lot of prequel projects, it occasionally feels obligated to explain things the films never needed explained. Not every mystery benefits from an origin story, and a couple of episodes lean into lore-dropping a bit harder than the atmosphere strictly needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is IT: Welcome to Derry a prequel or a sequel? It’s a prequel. The series is set in 1962, decades before the 2017 and 2019 IT films, and explores events leading up to Pennywise’s confrontation with the Losers Club.
How many episodes does Welcome to Derry have? Season 1 has eight episodes.
Will there be a Season 2 of Welcome to Derry? Yes. Season 2 is confirmed and will be set in 1935, expanding on events referenced during Season 1.
Is Bill Skarsgård in Welcome to Derry? Yes, he reprises his role as Pennywise from the IT films.
Where can I watch IT: Welcome to Derry? The series streams on HBO Max and airs on HBO.
Do I need to watch the IT movies before this series? No, but it helps. The show stands on its own, though longtime fans will pick up on far more references and payoffs from the films.
Related Watches
If IT: Welcome to Derry worked for you, it’s worth looking at other Stephen King adaptations built around small-town horror and slow-burn dread rather than pure shock value — the tone here has more in common with that style of storytelling than with typical monster-of-the-week horror TV.
Sources: HBO Max press materials, Nielsen Media Research viewership data, and cast/production reporting as of December 2025. Release details for future seasons are subject to change — check HBO Max directly for the latest schedule.
