Welcome to Derry has its first trailer, revealing a creepy look at HBO Max’s It prequel series, due out fall 2025.
The trailer, below, sets up the story, which is set in Maine in 1962. Newcomers to the area appear disturbed by reports of missing children, and the slow realization that something is very wrong in this part of the world. As is It tradition, a group of kids from Derry High School band together to try to find out what’s going on, worrying the adults will never believe a word they say.
There’s blood, screaming, creepy smiles, balloons, and, right at the end, a glimpse at It iconic villain Pennywise the Clown, once again played by Bill Skarsgård.
Get ready to go back to where IT all began... ? #ITWelcometoDerry is coming this fall to HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/SOhXEA6yYe— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 20, 2025
Welcome to Derry is a nine episode Season 1 from Andy Muschietti, who adapted the two It movies from Stephen King’s iconic horror novel. It’s set 27 years before the events of those films, showing Pennywise’s murder spree before hibernation.
"This is a book we love a lot, and we felt that there was still a lot of story to be covered," Muschietti and sister, Barbara, told Entertainment Weekly last year.
"It’s so rich with characters and events, we thought we would do justice to the book and the fans by going back into this world. Specifically, we are telling the stories of the interludes, writings by Mike Hanlon based on his investigation that includes interviews he conducts with the older people in the town.
“In Welcome to Derry, we touch on the usual themes that were talked about in the movie — friendship, loss, the power of unified belief — but this story focuses also on the use of fear as a weapon, which is one of the things that is also relevant to our times.
"27 years is the dormant period of Pennywise. It’s a different part of American history with a new set of fears for children, as well as adults having in mind the cost of the Cold War. Our baseline is 1962, but we do a few jumps to the past... Every 27 years when It appears, It’s cycle is marked by two catastrophic events, one at the beginning and one in the end. We are using the Black Spot as an event in which many stories are built around."
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
