First look at It prequel series that will “explore the origins” of Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise teases our return to Derry

The first look at IT: Welcome to Derry is here – and, while the pictures don’t give away much, they do tease our return to the small town plagued by Pennywise. 

In the photos, which you can see below, we see the Hanlons and the new, young cast. Disturbingly, one picture also features a painted mural for Pennywise himself. Check them out below. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Andy and Barbara Muschietti revealed more about the upcoming prequel show. “We will explore the origins of Pennywise,” they commented, “but like in the book, we’ll do it with a healthy dose of crypticism.”

The series is a prequel to the It movies, which are based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Bill Skarsgård will return as Pennywise, with the rest of the cast including Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Rudy Mancuso, Madeleine Stowe, Chris Chalk, James Remar, and Stephen Rider. The series will be nine episodes long, with Andy, who directed both movies, helming four episodes. 

The Muschiettis also confirmed that the Black Spot will factor into the story – in King’s novel, the Black Spot was the name of a bar opened by Will Hanlon (father of Mike, one of the kids in the Losers Club) for Black guests when he was in the Air Force. In a horrific, racist attack, the Maine Legion of White Decency – a white supremacist group – burned it down, killing those inside. Will saw Pennywise appear as a bird as the bar burned. 

“This is a book we love a lot, and we felt that there was still a lot of story to be covered,” the Muschiettis told EW. “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.”

Welcome to Derry will release on HBO and Max in 2025. In the meantime, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming TV shows for everything else worth getting excited about, or fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best Netflix shows. 

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