IT: Welcome to Derry Premieres on Max as Pennywise’s Origin Story Unfolds in 1962 Maine

IT: Welcome to Derry Premieres on Max as Pennywise’s Origin Story Unfolds in 1962 Maine

On Sunday, October 26, 2025, at 9:00 PM UTC, IT: Welcome to Derry slashed its way onto Max, transforming the streaming landscape with a chilling prequel to the hit Stephen King films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). The series doesn’t just revisit Derry — it digs into its rotting foundations, where a town’s sweet facade hides something that’s been waiting, hungry, for decades. And this time, Bill Skarsgård isn’t just playing Pennywise — he’s helping shape its mythos as an executive producer, too.

Back to 1962: When Derry’s Smile Turned Teeth-Sharp

IT: Welcome to Derry drops viewers into the heart of 1962, where maple trees still line the streets of Maine’s most deceptively charming town. But beneath the ice cream trucks and schoolyard laughter, children are vanishing — not all at once, but in quiet, terrifying increments. Four months after the disappearance of a young boy named Georgie Denbrough — a name that will echo through horror history — a ragtag group of outsiders begins to piece together the pattern. Teddy, Phil, Lilly, and Ronnie aren’t just curious kids; they’re the ones who notice the way the streetlights flicker when no one’s around, the way shadows move when they shouldn’t. Meanwhile, Major Leroy Hanlon, a weary Army officer with a cold case file thicker than his coat, starts connecting dots between disappearances and classified military activity in the area. The town’s elders? They say it’s just bad luck. The kids? They know better.

The series isn’t just about monsters. It’s about how fear gets buried — and how power tries to weaponize it. The U.S. military, hinted at through classified documents and hushed conversations, appears to be experimenting with something beneath Derry’s soil. Not to stop Pennywise. To harness it.

Behind the Scenes: A Production Haunted by Strikes and Vision

The road to IT: Welcome to Derry was anything but smooth. Development began in March 2022, when Andy Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti, and writer Jason Fuchs pitched the series as a deep dive into Derry’s past. By November 2022, Double Dream and Vertigo Entertainment had secured a production commitment. The green light came in February 2023 — and then, in July 2023, production halted. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike froze filming for nearly a year. Crews sat idle. Sets gathered dust. The clock ticked on a story that couldn’t afford to wait.

Production resumed in early 2024 and wrapped in August — just in time for a fall premiere. The delay, oddly, may have helped. The world had changed. The fear of unseen threats, of institutions hiding truths, felt more real than ever. The show’s tone shifted subtly — less nostalgia, more dread.

Who’s Behind the Mask? Skarsgård, Cast, and Creative Forces

Bill Skarsgård returns as Pennywise — and his presence looms even when he’s off-screen. His voice, his grin, the way his eyes seem to stretch just a little too far — it’s all there, but now layered with history. He’s not just a performer; he’s a curator of the myth. His involvement as executive producer gives the series a rare authenticity: the actor who made Pennywise terrifying now helps define what he means.

The supporting cast is equally compelling. Taylour Paige brings a fierce vulnerability to Lilly, the group’s emotional anchor. Jovan Adepo as Phil balances bravado with buried trauma. Chris Chalk plays Major Hanlon with a quiet desperation — a man who’s seen too much and knows he’ll be silenced if he speaks. Newcomers Clara Stack and Mikkal Karim-Fidler as Teddy and Ronnie deliver performances that feel ripped from a 1960s coming-of-age drama — until the walls start bleeding.

Also joining the fray: Madeleine Stowe as a chillingly composed town councilwoman, and Rudy Mancuso as a local radio host whose broadcasts subtly hint at the town’s secrets.

Why This Matters: The Horror That Keeps Growing

Horror franchises rarely evolve well. Too often, sequels dilute the terror. But IT: Welcome to Derry doesn’t just expand the universe — it deepens it. For the first time, we see how Pennywise doesn’t just appear — he *grows* with the town’s silence. The military’s involvement isn’t a cheap twist; it’s a horrifying commentary on how institutions enable evil by ignoring it. And the kids? They’re not heroes. They’re survivors who refuse to look away.

The series leans into subgenres with precision: psychological horror in the way memories warp, body horror in the grotesque transformations, teen horror in the rawness of adolescence under siege. It’s not just a prequel — it’s a thesis on how trauma becomes legend.

With an IMDb rating of 8.0/10 from over 5,500 users and a Rotten Tomatoes score climbing fast, the show is already being called “the most ambitious King adaptation since The Shining.” Critics note that while the films captured the terror of childhood, this series captures the terror of *growing up* in a place that refuses to heal.

What’s Next? The Shadow Beneath Derry

The season finale teases a secret tunnel beneath the library — one that wasn’t in King’s original text. Rumors suggest a second season is already in early development, with producers hinting at a 1980s timeline that would bridge directly into the 2017 film. That means we might see the Losers’ Club as adults — not just as kids haunted by memories, but as adults still running from what they saw.

For now, the series is streaming on Max, with plans starting at $10.99/month. Closed captions, audio description, and American Sign Language interpretation are available — a thoughtful touch for a show about voices that are too often ignored.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does IT: Welcome to Derry connect to the 2017 and 2019 films?

The series is a direct prequel, set in 1962 — exactly 55 years before the events of the 2017 film. It shows the origins of Pennywise’s most active period in Derry, the military’s secret experiments beneath the town, and the first known encounters with the entity by residents who later became the parents of the kids in the original films. Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise is the same entity, now with deeper lore.

Why was filming halted in 2023, and how did it affect the show?

Filming stopped in July 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which paused production for 13 months. The delay forced writers to rework some storylines to accommodate new cast availability and shifted the tone toward a more grounded, paranoid atmosphere — mirroring real-world anxieties about institutional betrayal. The result? A more layered, unsettling narrative.

Is Pennywise the only monster in the series?

No. While Pennywise is the central threat, the show introduces other manifestations — shadow figures that mimic lost children, entities that take the form of abusive adults, and even a monstrous, tree-like being in the woods that may be tied to Derry’s geological history. These aren’t random scares; they’re clues that Pennywise feeds on collective fear, not just individual terror.

What’s the significance of the U.S. military’s role in the story?

The military’s involvement suggests Derry’s evil isn’t just supernatural — it’s exploitable. Classified documents hint that Cold War-era scientists discovered the entity in the 1950s and tried to weaponize its ability to induce fear. Their experiments may have strengthened Pennywise. This twist reframes the horror: the real monster might be human ambition, not a clown.

Can you watch IT: Welcome to Derry without seeing the movies?

Absolutely. The series stands alone as a complete story, with all necessary context woven into dialogue and visual cues. But if you’ve seen the films, you’ll catch chilling callbacks — a specific street corner, a child’s drawing, even the same red balloon floating in the rain. It rewards fans without requiring them.

Will there be a second season?

Producers have confirmed development is underway for a second season, tentatively set in the 1980s, directly leading into the timeline of the 2017 film. The plan is to show how the town’s trauma resurfaces — and how the original Losers’ Club, now adults, are drawn back to Derry by nightmares they thought they buried.