In Derry, the past never stays buried. Set in 1962, “IT: Welcome to Derry” rewinds Stephen King’s nightmare town to a moment of postcard innocence and slowly peels back the veneer to reveal the rot underneath. The new HBO series acts as a prequel to “IT” and “IT: Chapter Two,” following the Hanlon family as they’re pulled into another brutal cycle of disappearances, hauntings, and a certain grinning figure who feeds beneath the streets. Bill Skarsgård returns as Pennywise, joined by newcomers James Remar, Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, and Chris Chalk.
Joining host Mike DeAngelo for the podcast are executive producers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, along with co-showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane, who walk through how this new cycle came to life and why the Kingverse has far deeper corners than the films could ever reach.
When asked why they returned to Derry after already telling IT’s story twice, Andy Muschietti says it comes from the parts of King’s book that never leave your mind. “It’s our love for the book that brought us back this time,” he explains. “Unfinished business is real in terms of a puzzle that was intentionally unfinished by Stephen King to create tension. The mystery and the magic of the book is really the product of many things, but among them are the question marks and all the enigmas that are presented there that are unsolved because they are all from the perspective of humans trying to figure out what’s going on.”
The idea didn’t begin as a series. Andy remembers that it started on the set of “IT: Chapter Two”, during long talks with Skarsgård. “It started with the idea of a prequel film,” he says. “We were talking about making a prequel with the origin story of Pennywise. How did it become Pennywise? What were the circumstances around it? Because in the book, it’s very cryptic. They mention Bob Gray, but everything is hearsay and little bits and pieces of a puzzle. And then over time, I realized there was so much more, a larger story to tell that connects it to everything that is the Macroverse.” That bigger canvas pushed the story onto television.
One of the major expansions is Dick Hallorann, a character long tied to “The Shining.” But as Barbara notes, “He’s in the book. He’s in IT.” Andy points to the Mike Hanlon interludes. “They mention Dick Hallorann and how, using the shine, he helped some people save their lives in that horrible event at the Black Spot,” he says. “It was almost unavoidable to think of him as a big player in the larger story. In this series, the Black Spot is only the climaxing event. There’s a reason why he is in Maine in that year, and that’s one of the stories that we tell.”
The Muschiettis also confirm that “Welcome to Derry” was never intended to be a single-season series. “Welcome to Derry is designed as a three-season story,” Andy says. “It’s a journey toward the past. There’s more and more story to unfold, and at the end, you will realize why we’re telling this story backwards when you hit season three.”
Co-showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane approached the mythology with clear guardrails. For Jason, the starting point was their own fandom. “We love this stuff. We are fans first,” he says. “And we had the benefit of Stephen King, who was looking at everything, approving everything. There wasn’t a script or a casting choice he didn’t see. He’s so generous in terms of his willingness to support us creatively, while also providing feedback where necessary. When you get a note from Stephen King on IT, you take it.” With the King’s blessing every step, they felt free to explore the questions the novel only hints at.
One of those questions is why IT remains tied to Derry. Brad explains, “IT, in its most basic manifestation, is a being of light, so naturally it can probably go wherever it wants. Why does it stay in Derry? Is it stuck? Is there anything particular about Derry that causes it to stay in place and only feed here every 27 years? We wanted to explore that.” Jason adds that the creature’s identity is equally puzzling. “It’s a shape shifter. Why does it continue to come back to the form of Pennywise, Bob Gray? It has infinite possibilities. What is it about this manifestation that draws it in?”
The era mattered just as much as the mythology. Brad says they refused to ignore the real-world tension shaping 1962. “If we’re dealing with a creature that thrives on hate and fear, and we’re doing it in 1962 America, we have to lean into the specifics of the hate and fear of the time,” he says. “To not do so would be untruthful and antithetical to everything King tries to do. We wanted to take that perfect nuclear family, that seemingly perfect world, and tear the facade off and show the rot underneath.” That philosophy is clear in the pilot’s already-infamous “car birth” sequence, which Jason says felt right because “a story like this should start with a kid going missing or being murdered by the entity. And at the same time, it’s its own thing. It’s 1962. So the manifestation of that fear is very different.”
Before closing, the Muschietti siblings address their experience on “The Flash” and the tidal wave of discourse surrounding it. Andy says, “Sometimes there’s a headwind on a project you dedicated a lot of work to. A lot of people did not see it, but people don’t see things, and they like to talk shit about it. They like to jump on wagons. People are angry for reasons unrelated to the movie. Of course, we had a publicity crisis with Ezra, that’s undeniable.” Barbara adds, “They could have backed out because of all the publicity issues, but they went all in, and we went all in. We gave it our blood, sweat and tears all the way to the end. I watched it a week ago and loved it again.”
“IT: Welcome to Derry” premieres on October 26 on HBO and Max, airing weekly through December.
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