The showrunners behind IT: Welcome to Derry are opening up on the challenge of this prequel to the classic horror novel/movies and how they hope to make it even more terrifying!
Adapting the work of a master of horror like Stephen King is a challenge that numerous filmmakers have failed. An exception is the sibling team of Andy and Barbara Muschietti. The pair produced IT, a two-part adaptation of King’s 1986 bestseller, with Andy directing both films. The result was a monster success, with the films earning a combined billion dollars at the box office, hailed by critics and fans citing it as among the best King adaptations ever.
The pair is now taking the idea to television with IT: Welcome to Derry, a coming HBO prequel series.Speaking to Deadline, Andy explained that the idea came from a conversation he and Bill Skarsgård (who plays the killer clown Pennywise and his human form of Bob Gray) had on set about expanding the backstory of this monstrous clown.
“Bill and I were fantasizing about the character of Bob Gray and an origin story,” Andy says. “There was an enthusiasm to go back and explore the complexities of this character.”
Rather than a movie, the Muschiettis took the idea to television. The show is set in the 1960s, focusing on the history of Gray, his transformation into Pennywise and how the small town of Derry undergoes cycles where this evil attacks.
Andy discussed the challenges of the show but enjoyed how it gave a wider canvas than a movie would have.
“We never did TV before, but there’s a bunch of TV shows that mean a lot to me and I appreciate the format, having a bigger canvas to tell a story, and the impact that has on audiences. Our love for the book, and the vacuum created by all these mysteries and question marks in it, mean you end up, as a reader, not understanding everything, including the mystery of IT. What is IT? What does IT want?”
It’s a great opportunity to show more of the unique world King created while providing some new twists!
How shocking will Welcome to Derry be?
It should be no surprise that people are expecting the show to be scary. The IT movies were outright terrifying and the freedom of HBO allows the prequel to bring the same level of terror, if not even more explicit. The fact it’s freer in the storytelling is also good and Andy is suggesting fans prep for it.
“We wanted to raise the bar higher in terms of shock value. It’s about a self-imposed mandate of opening with an event that is shocking enough that you put the audience in a position where nothing is taken for granted, where nothing is safe in this world. You’re immediately putting people on the edge of the seat. We needed a strong opening. One of the things I love about this scene is the build-up. Of course, it has a big, graphic and shocking conclusion, but the build-up is something that was important.”
Both the siblings do say there will be some doses of humor, although likely on the dark side. That connects to the original King work which had its unsettling moments balanced by humanizing elements as these are kids in the 1960s with all their worries and concerns alongside this danger.
Andy also hinted that there is a much bigger story arc to come that will play out over multiple seasons.
“My intention with this was to create a story that is a little bit like an iceberg under the water all through Seasons 1, 2 and 3. There will be an expansion in the mythology and more answers to the big questions. The second season will be in 1935. At the end of season 1, we are hinting at the reason why we are going to tell the story in two more seasons and backwards.”
That’s an intriguing idea as the show seems to explore the history of Derry and how, even before Pennywise, this was a town home to strange events and a dark evil that keeps coming back. This adds to the excitement of Welcome to Derry and how it seems set to do justice to King and his world.
IT: Welcome to Derry premieres Oct 26, 2025 on HBO.