One in every of my most extremely anticipated initiatives of 2025 is HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry, a nine-episode prequel sequence increasing the lore of Stephen King’s iconic horror masterpiece, IT.
The mission is coming from Andy and Barbara Muschietti alongside Jason Fuchs, and the sequence guarantees to dive deep into the sinister historical past of Derry and its terrifying shapeshifting predator, Pennywise.
In a latest interview with Radio TU, Andy Muschietti, who directed IT and IT: Chapter Two, revealed their formidable plans for the sequence, they usually wish to ship a chilling, interconnected story throughout three seasons.
However, as with every sequence, its continuation will depend on the success of its first season, set to debut later this yr on HBO and streaming on Max.
The primary season of Welcome to Derry is about in 1962, just some years earlier than the occasions of IT: Chapter One. From there, the story will transfer backward in time with the deliberate second season exploring 1935 and the third season taking viewers to 1908.
When speaking about this distinctive construction, Muschietti explains: “There’s a cause why the story is instructed backwards.”
The story attracts inspiration from the interludes in Stephen King’s unique novel, which element the analysis carried out by Mike Hanlon as he items collectively the darkish historical past of Derry.
Muschietti explains: “The interludes are mainly chapters that mirror Mike Hanlon’s analysis… fragments of his analysis. For 27 years, it’s the man making an attempt to determine what it’s, what did it, who did it, who noticed it, and all that stuff.”
Every season will focus on catastrophic occasions tied to Pennywise’s cycles of terror, which happen each 27 years.
Muschietti teases: “They speak about catastrophic occasions from the previous, like the fireplace within the Black Spot… the bloodbath of the Bradley Gang, a gang of financial institution robbers within the ’30s… and the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks.”
These historic tragedies kind the spine of the deliberate three seasons, every providing a deeper exploration of Derry’s darkish previous and Pennywise’s monstrous affect.
Muschietti confirms: “We’re basing the three seasons of this sequence on every of those catastrophic occasions.”
With Warner Bros. reportedly pleased with how the primary season has turned out, there’s already robust curiosity in fast-tracking the second season.
I beloved the route they’re taking this sequence, and I hope that we are going to get to see how the tales play out over the course of the three seasons!
As followers eagerly await the sequence premiere, it’s clear that Welcome to Derry is poised to ship a contemporary and terrifying enlargement of the IT universe, digging into the roots of the horror that has haunted generations of Derry’s residents. Put together to witness the blood-soaked historical past of this cursed city unfold when the sequence debuts on HBO later this yr.
Keep tuned for extra updates on what guarantees to be one of the crucial chilling exhibits of the yr.
Listed here are some particulars on every of the tree tales:
The Black Spot:
The Black Spot is likely one of the most memorable tales and it’s instructed by Mike Hanlon’s father, Will Hanlon, a story he saved hidden till his final days. In It‘s second interlude, Mike visits his father within the hospital and listens to his dad recount a harrowing chapter from his youth.
Years earlier than, Will Hanlon and his fellow Air Drive servicemen had created a nightclub referred to as The Black Spot, a haven for Black patrons in a time of segregation and deep-seated racism.
One night time, the Maine Legion of White Decency, a violent supremacist group, burned the membership to the bottom, killing many harmless folks. And whereas the Legion set the blaze, one thing way more sinister was lurking within the flames…It itself, taking the form of a monstrous hen, snatching up its victims amid the fiery chaos.
One of many folks inside was a younger Dick Halloran from The Shining, who labored within the membership’s kitchen.
The Bradley Gang:
The Bradley Gang was group of Melancholy-era outlaws who arrive in Derry in 1929 to cover out from the FBI. They’re gunned down by members of the Derry neighborhood on Canal Avenue in the course of the afternoon, whereas arriving at Machen’s Sporting Items retailer to choose up a cargo of ammunition.
Mike Hanlon recollects seven members of the Bradley Gang, although Norbert Keene, who was alive in the course of the ambush, recollects eight members. The gang consists of its chief, Al Bradley, and his brother, George.
They rob six or seven banks within the Midwest and kidnap a banker for a ransom of thirty thousand {dollars} earlier than deciding to kill the banker anyway.
The opposite gang members are the brothers Joe and Cal Conklin, Arthur “Creeping Jesus” Malloy, good-looking Patrick Caudy, George’s common-law spouse, Kitty Donahue, and Caudy’s on-and-off once more girlfriend, Marie Hauser.
The Explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks:
The Kitchener Ironworks was an ironworks exterior of Derry. In 1906, regardless of each machine within the works having been shut fully down, the Ironworks inexplicably exploded, killing a bunch of 88 youngsters and 102 complete individuals who had been collaborating in an Easter egg hunt.
The tragedy was attributable to It sabotaging the tools, presumed to be chargeable for eight lacking our bodies. This marked the start of the creature’s 27-year hibernation interval.
