“Hiya, Georgie.” With two words, Pennywise The Dancing Clown – or, the ancient evil entity known simply as IT – cemented himself as one of the scariest horror creations of all time. But if you’ve only seen IT and IT: Chapter Two, based on the legendary novel by horror icon Stephen King, you only know half the story. IT: Welcome To Derry has arrived, turning back the clock to tell the history not just of Pennywise, but also the town of Derry, and another generation of youngsters scared witless by the dark force pervading their home. Horror fans, your next must-see show is here.
Across eight episodes, the HBO Original series IT: Welcome To Derry tells the story of IT’s previous feeding cycle. The reality-warping cosmic deity rises every 27 years to feed on the fear (and the flesh) of Derry’s youth – in Andy Muschietti’s IT, we witnessed the Losers’ Club face Pennywise in 1989; in IT: Chapter Two, we saw them re-confront him as adults in 2016. Welcome To Derry (produced by Muschietti, who also directs multiple episodes) takes audiences back to 1962 – recounting the horrifying events that unfolded the last time IT awoke, in a series that reveals much more about Derry, its inhabitants, and IT itself.
Even if it weren’t for Pennywise reawakening, 1962 is a dangerous time to be in Derry. Amid the Cold War and the civil rights movement, it’s a significant era in American history, as paranoia pushes the nation to seek new military powers, and racial tensions bubble away. All of that comes into play in Welcome To Derry, particularly through the lens of the Hanlons – a Black family who move into the town; father Leroy (Jovan Adepo) who’s joining a top-secret military experiment; mother Charlotte (Taylour Paige), a civil rights activist; and son Will (Blake Cameron James), who soon finds himself being menaced by IT, alongside his new schoolmates.
Bill Skarsgård cements himself as an all-time horror icon once more.
If the surname ‘Hanlon’ is familiar to you from the IT films – Will Hanlon is one of the kids in the Losers’ Club, if you remember – then keep your eyes peeled. There are characters and family trees here that connect directly to Muschietti’s two movies, as Welcome to Derry shows the reverberations over generations that the evil entity brings. And that’s not all – there are major references, too, to the wider Stephen King-verse: mentions of Shawshank prison; a recurring turtle motif for Maturin fans; and, most notably, the character of Dick Hallorann – with his psychic abilities, as seen in The Shining and Doctor Sleep – is a major part of the series, this time played by Chris Chalk. It all adds up to a Stephen King fan’s dream.
But for those less familiar with previous IT and Stephen King tales, IT: Welcome to Derry tells its own complete story. It has a fresh cast of kids learning the hard way what a childhood in Derry means – like Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), whose encounters with IT bring her back to dark moments she’s already experienced in her youth; Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine), whose father has been wrongly accused of a terrible crime; the aforementioned Will Hanlon; Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler), hoping to climb the social ladder at school; and suave kid Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya). Together, they’ll try and figure out what it is that’s bringing their deepest, darkest fears to life, and see if they can put a stop to it. The waking nightmares they experience are strong stuff – wildly imaginative, with stomach-churning effects sure to please hardened horror heads – as IT conjures gory and gruesome visions to satiate its appetite.
That, of course, is the other major reason that IT: Welcome to Derry is a must-see: the series brings the long-awaited return of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, following his outstanding performance in the two IT films. Whether delivering terror in the sewers, sauntering through fiery hellscapes, or showing how IT took on the form of Pennywise to begin with, Skarsgård cements himself as an all-time horror icon once more.
With all the richness of Stephen King’s storytelling, IT: Welcome to Derry brings the terror of IT to a whole new era, combining American history, social commentary, and terrifying set pieces with real heart – and you can experience the entire series now, available on digital platforms. Close the curtains, turn off the lights, and prepare to have a merry, Derry Christmas.
IT: Welcome to Derry is available now on digital platforms – find it here via warnerbros.co.uk. Pre-order the series on Limited Edition Steelbook, 4K Ultra-HD, Blu-ray and DVD.
