It: Welcome To Derry Trailer Teases Pennywise's Real Origin Story (And It's Straight From Stephen King)

Horror maestro Stephen King has written countless novels about the nightmares that encroach upon our world, with one of the most expansive of his stories being "It." The 1986 horror epic relays the decades-spanning battle of Bill Denborough, Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak, Ben Hanscom, Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon, and Stanley Uris against an interdimensional threat who goes by the moniker of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. While the Losers Club is largely the focus of the story, the novel is loaded with detailed asides that paint a wider canvas of the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and its cursed history. "It" has received both a 1990 miniseries adaptation ("Stephen King's IT"), as well as a feature duology in 2017 ("It") and 2019 ("It: Chapter Two") respectively, and yet they've barely scratched the surface of Derry's festering rot. This is all set to change when the HBO series "It: Welcome to Derry" premieres next month.

Andy Muschietti, who directed both "It" films, returns with his familial producing partner Barbara Muschietti to finally bring King's side stories to life in a way that makes Pennywise feel more expansive. We already know that "Welcome to Derry" will adapt the sordid history of the Black Spot fire, which we see young Mike (Chosen Jacobs) tormented by in the 2017 film. It's one of the most disturbing moments in the entire novel, as it taps into how Pennywise's (Bill Skarsgård) presence has only exacerbated Derry's worst impulses. Given that this first season appears to take place in 1962, time will tell if stories like the missing settlers, in addition to the violent ambush of the Bradley Gang, will be expounded upon, although it appears the series will dig deeper into other King landmarks, as well as Pennywise's otherworldly origins found within the source material.

In the latest trailer for "Welcome to Derry," we see glimpses of a meteor violently crash landing on Earth. It resembles what we've previously seen in the sequence from "It: Chapter Two" when adult Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) makes adult Bill (James McAvoy) witness the strange visions he saw through a mind-opening drug trip. It's what ultimately pushes the adult Losers to grasp the severity of Pennywise's stronghold on their childhood hometown. The details of who It is or where It came from may not have been fully expanded upon in the two features, but it can be found within King's beloved horror tome.

Where the first film kept things relatively grounded in order to focus on the Losers Club when they're children, "Chapter Two," for better and worse, embraces the weirder King-isms from within the book. The Ritual of Chüd, for example, is introduced as a battle of wills against Pennywise that the adults have to partake with their infinity stones, err, I mean tokens, in order to extinguish the shapeshifting monster once and for all. That film's massive climax appropriately depicts the extent of Pennywise's power, but where does the interstellar eldritch emanate from?

In King's novel, Pennywise is a fear-eating shapeshifter, often referred to as a Glamour, who fell to Earth around prehistoric times. It woke up sometime around the beginning of the 18th century, where it found itself in a cycle of instilling fear upon the delicious souls of Derry every 27 years or so. It's in the book where young Bill learns about Pennywise from the Macroverse space turtle known as Maturin. Neither Muschietti film explores this bizarre player within the King-verse, but the first "It" gives a clever nod in the form of a LEGO figure that young Bill (Jaeden Martell) holds while investigating a strange noise in his childhood house. If there was any place to really let loose with King's out-there ideas, "Welcome to Derry" is definitely the place to do so.

There's also a moment in this new trailer that sees a yet unnamed character played by Clara Stack stumble upon a photo album with a picture that features a figure who sure looks a lot like Bob Gray (Bill Skarsgård). When adult Beverly (Jessica Chastain) finds that image in "Chapter Two," it's implied that this figure is either whom It took his Pennywise form from, or a meaningless thread that It uses to lead the kids on a wild goose chase. Both of these teases, nevertheless, are clearly hinting at building upon King's origins for the shapeless Lovecraftian fearmonger, while still leaving room for Muschietti's version to stand on its own.

"It: Welcome to Derry" is set to premiere on HBO and HBO Max on October 26, 2025.