It’s been a beat since Bill Skarsgård played Pennywise in both “It” films (released in 2017 and 2019, respectively), but the “Nosferatu” and “The Crow” actor has wasted no time diving into the demonic terror of the Stephen King villain for prequel series “It: Welcome to Derry.”
The show is set in 1960s Derry, 27 years before Andy Muschietti’s 2017 “It: Chapter One” film. Filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti developed the drama series “Welcome to Derry” for television along with Jason Fuchs; Andy Muschietti is directing multiple episodes of the series.
The elusive logline reads: “Set in the world of Stephen King’s ‘It’ universe, ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ is based on King’s ‘It’ novel and expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the feature films ‘It’ and ‘It: Chapter Two.’”
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So what is “Welcome to Derry” really about? It’s safe to say that it could just be an origin story for Skarsgård’s Pennywise with a new crop of kids to scare. The cast includes Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, and Rudy Mancuso.
“It: Welcome to Derry” is produced by HBO and Warner Bros. Television. Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti produce through their Double Dream production company, along with Fuchs, Skarsgård, Brad Caleb Kane, David Coatsworth, Shelley Meals, Roy Lee, and Dan Lin who executive produce. Fuchs and Kane serve as co-showrunners on the project; Fuchs wrote the teleplay for the first episode.
Skarsgård previously told Collider that it was “surreal” how big of a success the “It” films were. “It became this completely universal thing, outside of the thing. That’s not me. I can’t even relate myself to it anymore,” Skarsgård said when reprising the role for the sequel film. “And now that I’m going back and doing it, it’s such a bizarre thing. I don’t think I’ll ever really experience anything like it. It’s this dualistic thing of me and the work and the character, and then the thing that it became, but it’s fun.”
He added that it was easy to slip into the alter ego of the clown, too. “I was surprised how much of the character was just there already,” he said. “I instantly could access him again, like it was yesterday that we wrapped the first one. It was just all there. So, the work and preparation and figuring out the character is almost intuitive, which is pretty cool. It’s a very strange thing, but I’m trying to enjoy the ride, as much as I can.”
“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres this fall on HBO and HBO Max. Check out the teaser below.
