‘IT’ Prequel Series Announced for HBO Max

It has been confirmed that an ‘IT‘ prequel series based on the popular Stephen King novel is currently in production at HBO Max. Titled Welcome to Derry, the series will take place in the ‘1960s and will be a direct predecessor to the 2017 film It: Chapter One. It will focus on the origins of the curse that comes to haunt the small town of Maine for the next 27 years and provide an original story for the legendary Pennywise the Clown.

An ‘IT’ prequel series ‘WELCOME TO DERRY’ is in early works at HBO Max.

The series would likely explore the origin story of Pennywise the Clown as well as the dawn of the 27-year curse that haunts the small Maine town.

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Andy Muschietti, who also directed the 2017 film It: Chapter One and its sequel It: Chapter Two, will return to write and executive-produce the series alongside Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs. The events of the series will lead to those of the first It film.

According to the original  Stephen King novel, it was established that Pennywise first appeared in Derry, Maine, centuries ago after a meteor crash-lands on Earth from another dimension. Since then, every 27 years, the creature (Pennywise) from the meteor awakes and feeds on the area’s children.

The book was split into two main sections with the same characters but featured at different ages, those eras being 1957-58 and 1984-85. The films focused on these eras a little differently, though the 2019 sequel still focuses on aged up versions of the same characters from the first filmed, played by  Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Martell (Knives Out, Defending Jacob), Sophia Lillis (I Am Not Okay With This), Chosen Jacobs (God Friended Me, Hawaii Five-0), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Big Sky) and Bill Skarsgård, who starred as Pennywise.

The climax of the second film saw the surviving members of the Losers Club defeating Pennywise in a final confrontation, thus ridding their town of the evil clown once and for all. It is unclear at this time if the same cast will return to reprise any roles for the It prequel series, though it is likely that Skarsgård will at least return as Pennywise. The writer’s room for the series is also currently open.