This year is something of an anomaly for me as a horror fan, in that one of the 2025 TV premieres, HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry, has been drawing more of my anticipation than any upcoming horror movies, even the soon-to-release Stephen King adaptation from Edgar Wright. I’m a sucker for Derry, and would proudly wear a hat expressing as much, regardless of what abusive townies say. Which is all to say: I have so many hopes and expectations going into this.
We’ve no doubt been living in an evolved age of adaptations of King’s extensive library in the relatively recent past, with benchmarks such as Mr. Mercedes, The Monkey and The Long Walk to name just a few. I’d certainly slot Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One on that list, and though Chapter 2 might take more of a discussion to convince me, I’m already certain that Welcome to Derry could best both films, in part by not having as much built-in source material to mine.
Add to that Bill Skarsgard being convinced to haunt viewers anew as the eater-of-worlds himself, Pennywise, along with the fact that IT: Welcome to Derry shifted from streaming series to the lauded halls of HBO Originals, which doesn’t happen for shows that are destined to see the cancellation deadlights. Plus, Stephen King himself gave it some hefty praise. So now that all the reasons to be excited are out, help me find a dry-erase board and markers inside the Niebolt House so I can list all of my biggest hopes for the new show.
I Want More Explorations Into Pennywise’s Past Murder-Cycles
We already know that because the IT movies moved up the novel's timeline, with past events now set in 1989 and the Losers Club's "present day" being 2016 and beyond, that the 1962-set storyline for IT: Welcome to Derry will incorporate events that King wrote as occurring in the 1930s. The biggest example would be the establishment and tragic destruction of The Black Spot, a bar and grill largely populated by Black patrons from the nearby military base. It's an incident that connects generations through the Hanlon bloodline, but is far from Derry's only high-casualty disaster.
Stephen King's IT is littered with allusions to other twisted massacres dotted across Derry's history, going back well beyond the point when the town's name was made official. We know there was the catastrophe at the Kitchener Ironworks after the turn of the century, the public execution of the Bradley gang, and the mysterious disappearance of Derry's earliest known settlers, but that's not even a comprehensive list. So even if the series is focusing solely on IT's 1962 cycle, a few flashbacks wouldn't hurt anyone. Except for all of the victims, I guess.
I Want To See Many More Of IT’s Monstrous Forms Beyond Just Pennywise
Stephen King's novel gave its titular entity plenty of moments to shine by scaring the shit out of the core characters and other victims in the form of other iconic pop culture boogeymen, such as Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Crawling Eye, and even Jaws. It's a totally different challenge to pull all of that off in a live-action movie, so I won't be expecting those specific references. But Andy Muschietti's IT films (co-crafted with Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs) gave audiences the Painting Lady, Mrs. Kersh, Paul Bunyan and other non-Hollywood monsters for its characters, so I expect the same from Welcome to Derry.
Given we already know Pennywise himself won't be showing up for a while, it only makes sense for the show's creative team to come up with a gaggle of new ghouls and skinless goblins to get viewers squirming. The trailers have thankfully teased some gnarly-looking creations, but the more, the merrier. All that said, if the Muschiettis do manage to use a classic Warner Bros. property to scare the show's protagonists — maybe House of Wax, Them! or even a Looney Tunes riff — I'll be the first to hoot and holler approvingly.
I’d Love A Ton Of Pause-Assisted References To The IT Movies And Stephen King’s Derry-Set Works
Dropping a wild assortment of references within IT: Welcome to Derry might be an easier task if it took place during or after the events of the first two films, but its prequel placement presents an obvious hurdle, since we're a full generation away from the births of fully familiar characters. But there are obviously familial relatives, local businesses and other details that could be utilized to connect this series to the two films and King's novel, some of which have already been revealed, like mega-bully Henry Bowers' (presumed) grandfather and a missing relative of Stanley Uris'.
The prequel timeline also makes it difficult to connect to a wide array of other Stephen King works set in Derry, but it's possible! My ideal easter egg would be a tie-in to 11.22.63 by way of characters named Harry and/or Frank Dunning, or the holy grail of a reference to George Amberton, the alias taken on by that book's Jake Epping. Beyond that, Derry is a prevalent location all throughout the author's oeuvre, and in ways that don't also add "time travel" to this universe.
I Hope The Local Native Americans’ History In Derry Is Explored More
Okay, so this hope is one that's also somewhat based on supporting evidence, but I'm very interested for this live-action universe to explore Derry's history beyond just the whitewashed written records. That history was tapped into very temporarily during IT: Chapter 2's "Ritual of Chüd" sequence, when Mike relayed to Bill IT's extraterrestrial origin and the way Indigenous groups in the past supposedly took the creature down. Mike wasn't fully on the level with Bill, but his story wasn't all hogwash.
The biggest evidence of this side of the story being expanded upon is cast member Kimberly Guerrero (Reservation Dogs, Outer Range). She's portraying the character Rose, she of Derry's "Secondhand Rose, Secondhand Clothes" shop. It's notably where Bill got his bike Silver back, with King cameoing in the Chapter 2 scene, and has been part of the town going back to pre-1962, making Rose an established part of the town. What does she know, and how far back has her ancestry known about IT's existence?
I Hope The Military’s Involvement Is Key To The Horror Narrative And Isn’t Mostly For Racially Charged Plotting
One of the few Welcome to Derry characters whose death we don't need to worry about, Leroy Hanlon gets relocated to Derry by the military, and we know he'll be attempting to make a life for himself, his wife Charlotte, and his son Will in a town full of leering white folks. However, it's not been made very clear just yet exactly why the U.S. government wanted him there alongside The Shining hero Dick Halloran and others. But I hope there's more to it than just racial politics.
Don't get me wrong, I fully expect to see the same kind of bigotry that's present in many of King's works (and in the preceding films), and it's obviously a vital subject for the time period. However, my hope here is that the military's presence is a critical part of IT's current cycle, and doesn't just bombard viewers with dimwitted racists as a build-up to the Black Spot's fire.
I could keep listing hyper-detailed hopes until the very second IT: Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO and streams via HBO Max subscription, but then I couldn't eat or shower or float in the Standpipe or anything. Be sure you're on time for the welcome wagon on Sunday, October 26, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
