Andy and Barbara Muschietti along with Fuchs were developing anIt television series by March 2022. After receiving a production commitment later that November, Fuchs andBrad Kane were hired as showrunners. The series wasgreenlit in February 2023, with Andy Muschietti attached to direct multiple episodes, including the pilot episode, and Fuchs as a writer. Casting began later in April, including Skarsgård being cast in May 2024. Filming for the series began in May 2023 but was halted that July due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming ended in August 2024.
It: Welcome to Derry premiered onHBO on October 26, 2025. The series received generally positive reviews from critics.
Premise
In 1962, a couple with their son move toDerry, Maine just as a young boy disappears. With their arrival, very bad things begin to happen in the town.[2]
Cast and characters
Main
Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon, Leroy's wife and Will's mother who fights for what is right[3]
Stephen Rider as Hank Grogan, Ronnie's father and the projectionist at the local cinema[5]
Matilda Lawler as Marge Truman, Lilly's friend who is afraid of no longer being with the popular ones, but after her encounter with It, she joins Lilly's crew.
Amanda Christine as Ronnie Grogan, Hank's daughter who befriends Lilly, Will and Rich
Clara Stack as Lilly Bainbridge, a girl dealing with the death of her father, an absent mother and guilt.
Blake Cameron James as Will Hanlon, Leroy and Charlotte's son and science enthusiast who finds it difficult to adapt to Derry[4]
Arian S. Cartaya as Rich Santos[6], aCuban American who befriends Will
Miles Ekhardt as Matty Clements, a boy who disappears when Pennywise awakens
Mikkal Karim-Fidler as Teddy Uris, Phil's best friend who comes from aJewish family
Jack Molloy Legault as Phil Malkin, Teddy's best friend and aconspiracy theorist
Matilda Legault as Susie Malkin, Phil's younger sister
In 1962, a boy named Matty Clements asks a family to take him out ofDerry, and the journey becomes increasingly strange as the family's behavior worsens; the woman gives birth to a mutant baby who attacks Matty. Four months later, Major Leroy Hanlon arrives at the Derry military base and experiences a racist incident. Lilly Bainbridge has a horrific vision of Matty singing a song and sees his bloody fingers from her bathtub; Lilly tells her friends Marge, Teddy Uris, and Phil Malkin about the vision, but no one believes her. Teddy later has a horrific vision of a humanlampshade screaming at him. Lilly, Teddy, and Phil search for information about Matty's disappearance; they find Ronnie Grogan, who tells them that she has also heard children's voices coming from the sewers near the movie theater, singing the same song as Matty. Leroy is ambushed by masked men and is saved by his friend and partner, Pauly Russo. The group, accompanied by Phil’s sister Susie, goes to the movies in search of answers, and Ronnie puts on a film where they see Matty, who blames them before releasing the mutant baby, which kills everyone except Lilly, whom Ronnie rescues.
The police investigate Ronnie's father Hank, who is suspected of the murder and disappearance of the children. Leroy suspects their attack was orchestrated bySoviet spies while Sergeant Masters is imprisoned for it. Leroy's wife Charlotte walks through Derry and tries to break up a fight, but receives disapproving looks from the adults. Ronnie has a vision of her deceased mother. The army searches the woods for something with the help ofDick Hallorann, under the watchful eyes ofNative Americans. Ronnie tells Lilly about her vision, and they discuss the version Lilly gave to the police. Leroy's son Will struggles to adjust, but he befriends Ronnie andCuban American Rich. Chief Clint Bowers blackmails Lilly, and the police arrest Hank; Ronnie confronts Lilly at her home. Leroy exonerates Masters as one of the attackers. General Francis Shaw tells Leroy that he orchestrated the attack to test his fear and that only he can retrieve a "weapon" that instills a mortal fear in anyone. After another vision, Lilly returns to Juniper Hill, a psychiatric hospital. The army finds a car with corpses inside, a beacon to locate the weapon.
In 1908, a young Shaw has a vivid experience of a terrifying-looking man who stalks and pursues him when he is saved by a young Native American named Rose; they leave the forest and she explains what that thing is. After that, Shaw and Rose spent the entire summer together until Shaw left Derry. In the present, Lilly is abandons Juniper Hill; in school, Lilly and Ronnie plan to obtain visual evidence to exonerate Hank. Shaw, after finding nothing useful in the car, sends Hallorann to use his psychic abilities on air. Hallorann has a vision of soldiers dying on battlefields in a war and of bodies floating before escaping; Leroy saves Hallorann from falling out of the helicopter. Shaw visits Rose at herpawn shop about her cease and desist letter and lies to her about the reason for the excavations. Lilly and Ronnie recruit Will and Rich into their plan, and Rich claims that the thing is anorisha, an evil spirit; the group sets out to summon it. They go to a cemetery for the ritual when they discover that Rich is not sure if it will work. As they leave, they have a vision of Teddy and Susie’s spirits chasing them. They manage to take pictures, of which one shows a clown.
The group takes the photos to Bowers, but when he looks at them, the spirits are nowhere to be seen. Leroy takes Will fishing, where he has a vision that tells him that he will die in flames;[b] Leroy rescues him and sees burns on Will, who warns him about something evil in Derry. With his friends, Will theorizes that this evil wants to increase their fear to later devour them. Charlotte visits Hank to help him with his case; Hank confesses to having been with a married white woman that night. Marge tries to play a cruel prank on Lilly, but has a vision in which her eyes pop out, and mutilates one in fright before Lilly intervenes. Will sees a clown watching him from his window, and when Leroy goes outside, he sees the same red balloon he saw while fishing. Hallorann enters the mind of Rose's nephew Taniel, and discovers the entity's origin and how it gained more power as it killed, and how the natives imprisoned it in the place that is now Derry. Taniel shows Hallorann that the entity is in the Neibolt street house.
Shaw tells Leroy that his plan is to obtain the pillars containing the entity so he can control it. The group finds Matty at their meeting place and he reveals that Phil is alive. The natives talk about how, just like when he awakens, a deadly and violent act is imminent before the entity sleeps for 27 years and repeats its cycle. Rose tries to get Shaw to stop trying to capture the entity, but she fails. Hank is sent to Shawshank Prison, but the bus has an accident and he escapes. The children, along with Matty and the newly arrived Marge, venture into the sewers in search of Phil, taking Lilly's mother's pills to relax; the pills drug them. The army enters with Taniel, but the mission begins to go wrong. The children discover the bodies of their friends, Matty transforms intoPennywise, and they flee. Leroy and Pauly encounter the children; Leroy fires thinking it is an illusion, but Pauly intervenes, knowing they are real, and is killed. Pennywise tries to eat Lilly, but the pillar prevents him, and he retreat. Hank meets with Ingrid in her car and tells her what to do to save him; Ingrid visits Charlotte. Hallorann exits the sewers and sees a dead Pauly.
In March 2022,Variety reported thatAndy Muschietti,Barbara Muschietti andJason Fuchs were developing and serving as executive producers of a prequel television series of the filmIt (2017) forHBO Max titledWelcome to Derry, which was to take place in the 1960s before the events of the film and would also include theorigin story ofPennywise.[16][17] It received a production commitment in November 2022, and Fuchs andBrad Caleb Kane were hired as co-showrunners.[18] The series was given agreenlight in February 2023 with Andy Muschietti directing multiple episodes, including the pilot written by Fuchs.[19]Bill Skarsgård serves as an executive producer.[20]
Writing
In January 2025, in an interview with Radio TU, Andy Muschietti revealed details about the source material and longer-term plans. He said that the series is based on interlude chapters from theIt novel. He said that "There's a reason why the story is told backwards", where the three planned seasons are set in 1962, 1935, and 1908 respectively.[21][22] Muschietti mentioned how with the first season they are only "opening a window" of the story and that it will really "manifest" in the second and third seasons.[23] The series will also focus on why Pennywise stays inDerry when he could go "somewhere else" and that he takes advantage of children because adults do not understand what happens to them.[24] Executive producerJason Fuchs said that the plan, apart from revealing the origin of Pennywise, is also the origin of the "cursed town". For Fuchs, Derry is also the entity "in many ways" because Pennywise "actually predates Derry". If given the opportunity, the planned seasons would leave a "different understanding of the creature, the town's rules, and what motivates It".[5]
Principal photography began inToronto,Hamilton andPort Hope in May 2023, with the shooting titleGreetings from Fairview, and was expected to continue through December.[28][29][30] Scenes were shot at theDelta Secondary School.[31] In mid-July 2023, production was suspended due to theSAG-AFTRA strike.[32] In August 2024, it was reported that production on the series had concluded,[33][34] and it was revealed that the series was titledIt: Welcome to Derry.[35] Barbara Muschietti revealed the difficulty of returning to film the series with the child cast after the 2023 Hollywood strikes because they were "in a state of spontaneous growth".[5] She estimated that "90% of three episodes" were filmed before production shut down and they had to come back to work in a different season and climate. She said, "This is a summer show, but suddenly it wasn't a summer show any more. We had to create a different finale with a different climate".[36]
Music
In May 2025, it was reported thatBenjamin Wallfisch would score the series, returning from the films.[37] On November 2, 2025, the first volume of the soundtrack, consisting of music from the first two episodes, was released to streaming platforms,[38] and on November 17, the second volume, consisting of music from the third and fourth episodes, was released.[39]
Marketing
The first teaser was released on May 20, 2025.[40] Part of the cast and directorAndy Muschietti attended theSan Diego Comic-Con 2025 to talk about the season and a teaser was shown to attendees, being released to the public the following day.[2] The official trailer was released on September 23, showing a full look atPennywise.[41] Muschietti and some of the cast attendedNew York Comic-Con to talk about the season.[8] Ared band trailer was released on October 14.[42]
Release
It: Welcome to Derry premiered onHBO on October 26, 2025, with subsequent episodes airing weekly.[43] It was previously slated to stream exclusively onHBO Max.[44]
Reception
Critical response
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 79% of 131 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "While scattered plotting occasionally drains the fear from its chilling premise,It: Welcome to Derry compellingly deepens the myth ofPennywise through sharp social commentary, a dreadful atmosphere, and committed performances."[45]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the series a score of 61 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[46]
Chris Hayner forPolygon called the series an "excellent prequel" and said that he was more interested in the lore of Derry and the influence of Pennywise on it than in the films. He mentioned how the violence was "plenty graphic" and how Pennywise terrorizes and controls the town "through other methods".[47]
Chris Evangelista for/Film criticized the show's attempt to answer every mystery that is presented, even those that "no one was asking" and that it is not necessary to reveal Pennywise's origin since "things like that should defy a reasonable explanation", but praised that "it is consistently bloody" and thatBill Skarsgård does not appear in every episode, with Pennywise seen more as a "shape-shifting creature" that "enhances the show" with a higher variety of scares. He stated that the series would "satisfy hungry horror fans".[48]
Jack Hamilton forSlate dubbed the series "a baffling, half-baked mess", complimenting the acting performances of the adult cast and highlighting some standout horror sequences, but criticized the "one-dimensional" writing for the child characters, overly complex plotting, "dated" representation ofNative Americans in the United States, weakfanservice and "ham-fisted forays into socio-historical commentary".[49]
Lucy Mangan ofThe Guardian awarded the series three out of five stars, calling the "demonic, liver-eating baby... horrifying", and concluding that "horror fans and fans of King's themes would likely enjoy the series [but] its visceral elements [may] push viewers' tolerance".[50]
Audience viewership
It: Welcome to Derry garnered 5.7 million viewers in its first 3 days, becoming the third most-watched debut on the platform, behind onlyHouse of the Dragon andThe Last of Us.[51]
Notes
^The second episode was released online on HBO's streaming service on October 31, to coincide withHalloween, and was released on normal broadcast television on November 2.[11]
_(cropped).jpg)
