5 Things We Learned About It: Welcome to Derry [NYCC]

When HBO first announced plans to move forward with an “It” prequel series based on the two recent films, the collective reaction could be summed up as both excitement…and mild confusion. What more was there for audiences to learn about the existential, ancient evil that takes the form of a clown and terrorizes little children with its red balloons? It turns out that it’s an awful lot.

Led by producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti, as well as showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane, the project received a prestigious spotlight during this year’s New York Comic Con festivities. The convention rolled out the red carpet for a series that, according to the mood in the room, is destined to be one of nerddom’s biggest hits when it releases later this year. During the big panel attended by Muschiettis, showrunners and actors Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Taylour Paige and Kimberly Guerrero, the cast and crew revealed several gifts for those in attendance. Exclusive clips and a trailer have received most of the hype, but it’s the conversations that took place on stage among the creative team that should excite fans even more.

Here are the most fascinating things viewers need to know before watching “It: Welcome to Derry,” which takes place decades before the original “It,” in 1962.

In the year of our Lord 2025, it’s worth asking a crucial question every time the latest movie or show based on a popular IP comes out: does it actually have a reason to exist? When it comes to “It: Welcome to Derry” (watch the trailer here), this pressing concern can be answered strongly in the affirmative. The upcoming prequel series could have easily fallen victim to the corporate and studio mentality of simply churning out franchise fodder for the sake of it. Luckily, it looks like Stephen King fans can breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to what those behind this series have in store for us.

For Andy Muschietti, director of “It” and “It: Chapter Two,” the idea for this series came very quickly after finishing the second film. After convincing Bill Skarsgård to reprise his role as Pennywise, the rest fell into place. To hear Muschietti tell it, it was more than just an excuse to reveal the origin story of the killer clown and his supernatural reign of terror over the small (fictional) town of Derry, Maine, every 27 years. There will be many connections to the original characters from the films. (Mike Hanlon, the Loser’s Club member who chooses to stay in his childhood town rather than leave, looms large.) But the Muschiettis and the showrunners pointed out that others, like Chris Chalk’s Dick Hallorann, step straight from the pages of King’s novel in a way that the films couldn’t quite match.

With that in mind, it’s easy to imagine how the series will fill in the gaps from both blockbusters.

As of right now, “It: Welcome to Derry” isn’t confirmed for more than one season… but the writing team clearly has higher hopes than that. During the panel, Andy Muschietti explained how each season takes direct inspiration from Pennywise himself. As fans are well aware, the interdimensional entity manifests physically at regular intervals, only appearing in the “flesh” every 27 years. According to Muschietti, they took the initiative to model this first season (and hopefully all those that follow) by having the episodes cover one of the planet’s cycles. If there are more, subsequent seasons will shift the periods and focus on another 27-year cycle.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the unusual structure of “Welcome to Derry.” For those wondering what kind of material the writers will adapt, Muschietti noted how the films remained untouched from King’s original novel which left, in his words, “more questions than answers.” The filmmaker then explained that:

“To me, what’s interesting here is sort of the model of a different story, a hidden story, a story that’s not told forward, but a story that’s told backwards. And, ultimately, the events in which he became Pennywise. There’s more, there’s a reason and a secret why we’re telling this story backwards. We can’t tell you that now, but maybe after you’ve seen the show.”

“Welcome to Derry” may bill itself as a prequel and origin story, but that doesn’t mean fans can know exactly how these tie-ins to the two “It” movies will play out. We already know, thanks to a previous trailer, that the series will at least tangentially touch on the book-based, space-related backstory for Pennywise. It turns out that this broader approach to adapting the source material from Stephen King’s acclaimed novel will guide much of the season’s direction. As previously mentioned, fans will undoubtedly spot ancestral characters over the original characters. Jovan Adepo’s Leroy Hanlon and Taylour Paige’s Charlotte Hanlon hardly need an introduction, as the grandparents of future Loser’s Club mainstay Mike in both “It” films. Other characters have built-in aspects that will likely fly over the heads of casual viewers, while diehards will be able to spot one Easter egg after another.

But perhaps the most interesting of all revolves around Rose, a newly introduced character played by Kimberly Guerrero. As a native character in the 1960s timeline, she immediately adds a new (and, as she pointed out, unexplored) layer to the story that we’ve never seen before. According to Guerrero, “Welcome to Derry” will take us back to the original Loser’s Club and all the ways Rose’s ancestors help in the fight against the bad guy. In fact, his character even has ties to Stephen King’s cameo in “Chapter Two.” As she explained:

“Rose knows everything that happened before Derry was Derry. There was an early Loser’s Club, and that Loser’s Club was a group of Aboriginal children. And my character is a direct descendant of those children.”

“Who remembers Stephen King coming in ‘Chapter Two’? It’s one of my favorite moments in the ‘It’ movies, and he shows up in this store called Secondhand Rose. My name is Rose. And it’s so perfectly placed, because Rose is the keeper of memories.”

All of the footage shown at the NYCC panel had one thing in common: we never really see him in his clown form as Pennywise. It turns out there’s a very good reason for that. In various scenes, the ancient horror appears to the unfortunate characters as figures straight out of their nightmares or memories. Strangers in a grocery store, family and other loved ones, and more are all prey when it comes to the antagonist most audiences know as the Clown from Hell. But forcing us to wait until later in the season to see him fully unleashed like he was in the movies is just part of the game in “Welcome to Derry.”

Described as playing the game “Jaws” with Pennywise (Steven Spielberg’s world-famous shark is not seen for most of the film), this strategy could end up paying off in the series. As Barbara Muschietti said: “So, Pennywise. He’s our shark. We believe wholeheartedly that we can’t allow the public to get comfortable. We have to hide the ball.” Andy then chimed in, saying, “There was an intention to make his appearance as Pennywise fun, to create a sense of anticipation, this build-up, this suspense that I think people won’t know when — the importance of his ability is, ‘When is the clown going to appear?’ We can’t tell you, but he will.”

“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres on HBO and HBO Max on October 26, 2025.