The recent big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s doorstopper is getting a small screen expansion.
We’re certainly getting a lot of Stephen King adaptations lately, aren’t we? And it’s not like the big guy’s back catalogue hasn’t been regularly raided for screen fodder before. The Long Walk and Life Of Chuck are just around the corner, plus The Running Man. The Institute is currently streaming, The Monkey was a hit, and new takes on Carrie, The Stand, and more on the way. And to that long list we can add IT: Welcome To Derry, the prequel series to Andy Muschietti’s two-part adaptation of King’s meditation on childhood, loss, and murderous clowns.
IT: Welcome to Derry Trailer
What’s the plot?
As all good King heads know, the horrifying interdimensional entity that wears the greasepaint of Pennywise the Clown has been nesting under the town of Derry, Maine for a loooooong time, coming up every so often to munch on a passel of kids. This offers up a wealth of storytelling possibilities that were touched on in Big Steve’s 1986 novel, and seem to be getting an airing here. According to executive producer and showrunner Andy Muschietti, three seasons are planned, set in 1962, 1935, and 1908. This first season is the ’60s-set one, which is close enough to the the 1958 parts of the book that you may experience some cognitive dissonance.
Who’s in it?
- Jovan Adepo as Leroy Hanlon.
- Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann, who you may recall crops up in another revered King classic.
- Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon.
- James Remar as Clint Bowers.
- Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown.
Plus Dean Yool, Madeleine Stowe, Alixandra Fuchs, Kimberly Norris Guerrero, Tyner Rushing, Dorian Grey, Thomas Mitchell, BJ Harrison, Peter Outerbridge, Shane Marriott, Chad Rook, Joshua Odjick, Morningstar Angeline, and Rudy Mancuso are in supporting roles.
When’s it out?
IT: Welcome To Derry is out on HBO, or Max, or HBO Max, or whatever the hell they’re calling it by then, in October 2025. No specific date has been set, but one particularly appropriate one springs immediately to mind.
What’s the vibe?
I’m a Stephen King fan from way back. In high school, a friend’s mum was one of King’s Constant Readers, getting the Doubleday Book Club editions the second they dropped, and she had every single thing the guy had ever written, so I was well served at a time when I was voraciously reading anything that was stuck in front of me. Which means I’ll check out anything Maine’s favourite son is even peripherally involved in.
But even putting that slavish devotion aside, this looks pretty cool. One thing Muschietti’s films never quite nailed was the sense of ancient evil that permeates King’s novel, and this series looks like it’s trying to tap into that. If it pulls it off, this could be a banger. As opposed to Bangor.
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