While It: Welcome to Derry is only a week away, there is still plenty of time for Stephen King fans to catch up on the It movies and understand the prequel’s lore in time for its premiere.It: Welcome to Derry’s story will reintroduce viewers to the eponymous setting of Stephen King’s It.
Adapted as two movies between 2017 and 2019, It is a doorstop of a King novel that was published in 1986. It tells the tale of the Losers Club, a group of outcast children who band together to defeat an ageless evil entity known as Pennywise. Pennywise takes many forms, but the alien evil most often appears as a terrifying clown.
While Pennywise is defeated at the end of 2017’s It, he returns with a vengeance in 2019’s sequel It: Chapter 2. It is heavily implied that he has terrorized the town of Derry for decades and possibly even centuries before the Losers Club encountered him, but It: Welcome to Derry’s story will finally clarify the monster’s history.
It: Welcome to Derry Premieres On October 26
Arriving on HBO’s streaming service MAX on October 26, It: Welcome to Derry is a prequel to the 2017 and 2019 movies. The show takes place twenty years before It. Set in Derry during the early 1960s, 2025’s scariest new TV show will depict Pennywise’s rise to power and another group of children’s attempts to stop him.
It: Welcome to Derry shares the same director as the It movies in Mama’s Andy Muschietti, and Bill Skarsgard returns to the role of Pennywise in the show. Although the prequel takes place before the events of the movies, It: Welcome to Derry still retains a close canon connection with them.
The show follows the story of Mike’s family, the Hanlons, one generation before he was born. This allows the series to maintain a major canon link with the events of the It movies, but also ensures that the series can explore the banality of Derry’s small town evil.
Mike is the only Black member of the Losers Club, and, at various points in the It movies, it is heavily implied that Pennywise derives his power from feeding off ignorance, bigotry, and hate. This is most explicitly portrayed when It: Chapter 2’s version of Pennywise feeds after a hate crime in the sequel’s opening scene.
The racism and mistreatment that the Hanlon family face upon their arrival in Derry provides an opportunity for Pennywise to sink his teeth into the misery of these new victims. However, this isn’t the reason that viewers need to watch the movies before tuning into It: Welcome to Derry.
You Need To Watch It and It: Chapter 2 Before Welcome to Derry
It: Welcome to Derry might explore Pennywise’s earlier appearances in the town, but the prequel show won’t include the Losers Club since it takes place a generation before they were born. As such, viewers won’t get a thorough explanation of what Pennywise is or how he can be defeated.
Thankfully, you don’t need to read all 1000 pages of It to find out the answer.
While It: Welcome to Derry connects with King’s Dreamcatcher by setting a military investigation in Derry, Maine, the It movies provide a comparatively straightforward explanation of Pennywise’s origins, his powers, his weaknesses, and his modus operandi. In fact, it is Mike Hanlon himself who works out how to defeat Pennywise in It: Chapter 2.
Of course, this is inherently bad news for the main characters of It: Welcome to Derry. Since Pennywise isn’t defeated for good until the end of the sequel, viewers know that the heroes of this prequel are effectively doomed. They may be able to temporarily stop the monster, but they can’t stop the events of the movies from taking place.
How It: Welcome to Derry Connects To The It Movies
Unless It: Welcome to Derry completely retcons its franchise predecessors, the show will link up with the movies in three distinct ways. Firstly, it will provide Mike Hanlon’s family with a backstory and more screen time, something that was overdue after he was underserved by the original It movies.
Secondly,It: Welcome to Derry’s story will explain Pennywise’s origins further, most likely clarifying when he arrived on Earth and why he hasn’t left Derry despite his almost limitless evil powers. The show could explore the geographical limitations of Pennywise’s influence, and even explain whether he can operate outside of the town’s boundaries.
Finally, It: Welcome to Derry promises to expand the world of the movies to include more characters from earlier Stephen King projects. The movies feature a handful of subtle nods to other King movies and books, but few major moments of canon overlap. In contrast, the show has already established two major links to famous King stories.
The presence of the military in Derry implies a link to Dreamcatcher, as noted above, andIt: Welcome to Derry’s Dick Halloran role proves that the show will also link up with both The Shining and Doctor Sleep. Thus, the It movies will now share a fictional universe with these earlier Stephen King movies thanks to the story of It: Welcome to Derry.
- Release Date
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October 26, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andy Muschietti
