It was announced back in March that HBO Max was developing a prequel series to It, Stephen King‘s classic novel. Titled Welcome To Derry, the series has now found its showrunners in the form of Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane.
The former has written films such as Wonder Woman and I See You, while the latter has written episodes of shows such as Fringe, Black Sails, and Tokyo Vice, while also serving as the singing voice in Disney’s Aladdin.
Welcome To Derry will take place in the same universe as It and It: Chapter Two, the films based on King’s novel that were released in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Fuchs reportedly wrote the script for the pilot based on a story from sibling filmmaking team Andy and Barbara Muschietti after they brought him onto the project personally.
Andy directed both It films while Barbara served as a producer on each. Both films were huge hits, with the first one becoming the highest grossing horror movie of all time. Naturally, anyone involved in those projects still sees major dollar signs in their eyes when they think of the franchise, and with no real way to continue the film series, a TV show is the next best thing.
Little is known about the project right now, but it’s expected to explore the history of Derry, Maine, the town the book and films are set, which has a long history of being terrorized by Pennywise the Clown. Pennywise first arrived in Derry in 1715 via an asteroid. Since then, he reemerges about every twenty-seven years to terrorize the children that reside there.
Producers will no doubt be desperate to get Bill Skarsgard back to play Pennywise in any capacity. We’ll see what happens with that. The show being an HBO series will likely help the chances of him appearing, but don’t expect Pennywise to be a central figure on the show. It will likely be aiming for a Stranger Things-esque spooky coming-of-age vibe.
More news about the project will no doubt leak out soon enough, as there should be plenty of people hyped for it. We’ll wait and see what HBO has in store. Upcoming HBO Max projects include David E. Kelley‘s crime drama Love and Death and a series that will accompany the ongoing Dune film series titled Dune: The Sisterhood.
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