It: Welcome To Derry Review: The Stephen King Prequel Series Is Surprisingly Scary And Gruesome

"It: Welcome to Derry" isn't pulling any punches. The prequel series set in the world of Stephen King's malevolent shape-shifting clown-monster opens with a disturbing sequence that build and builds towards a gruesome climax. The show is signaling from the jump that it really wants to scare us, and I have to admit I was kind of impressed. I'm a big Stephen King fan and I consider "It" to be King's masterpiece. I also enjoyed Andy Muschietti's 2017 film adaptation of the book. Which meant my hype was through the roof for the follow-up, 2019's "It: Chapter Two."

Unfortunately, while "It: Chapter Two" did a good job in regards to casting adult versions of the Losers Club, the film itself was a bit of a mess, edited in a chaotic fashion that got on my nerves real quick. So when it was revealed we were getting a prequel series developed by Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, I was slightly apprehensive, both because "It: Chapter Two" was such a disappointment and because the idea of a prequel TV series sounded little more than a lazy way to cash-in on brand-name awareness (anyone remember "Dune: Prophecy"? Anyone?).

So it's a nice surprise to say that "It: Welcome to Derry" is smarter and scarier than expected. It helps that the series has King's book as a guidepost: a lot of the storylines that unfold here are taken directly from that massive tome of terror. I've seen five of the first season's eight episodes, so there's still a chance the series could collapse as it nears a finale. But based on what I've witnessed so far, I'm willing to give "Welcome to Derry" the benefit of the doubt. The series is gruesome, gory, and yes, scary. And like Pennywise the Clown himself (itself?), it has more than a few diabolical tricks up its sleeve.

King's novel unfolded over several different timelines, with two main narratives taking place in the 1950s and 1980s. Peppered throughout the story were a series of interludes covering various historical moments in the cursed town of Derry, Maine, painting a rich picture of Pennywise's reign of terror. When Muschietti took "It" to the big screen in 2017 and 2019, some changes were made. Instead of telling a parallel story of the '50s and '80s, Muschietti's films were primarily set in the 1980s and in present day. As for those time jumping interludes, they were left out entirely – which is where "Welcome to Derry" comes in to play. The series is getting the meat of its meal from those interludes while adding new twists and turns to the mix.

"Welcome to Derry" takes us back to 1962, where various newcomers and lifelong residents of Derry find themselves grappling with all sorts of unexplained phenomenon. Decorated pilot Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) has just rolled into town with his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and young son Will (Blake Cameron James). Once there, he sets up shop on a local army base and discovers that some sort of top-secret mission is underway involving the psychic soldier Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk). Horror fans will immediately recognize Dick Hallorann as a character from "The Shining," but he also makes a cameo appearance in the "It" book, so having him on hand for the series makes sense.

Meanwhile, there's also a group of local kids navigating the horrors of the world: the threat of nuclear war hangs over everything, and if that wasn't bad enough, various Derry kids have a bad habit of going missing. How the show handles its young characters is surprising — I'm being vague here to avoid spoilers, but let's just say the assumptions I made about the show's 1960s take on The Losers Club did not exactly pan out as expected. Young characters in this storyline include Lilly (Clara Stack), a girl with a traumatic past, and Ronnie (Amanda Christine), who wants to clear the name of her wrongfully accused father. Ronnie and her father are Black (just like the Hanlon family), and the show's focus on people of color also ties directly into King's book. While the film adaptation had Black character Mike Hanlon as part of the Losers Club, it also jettisoned a lot of the book's material about Derry's inherent racism. "Welcome to Derry," meanwhile, tries to address this head-on, although it's approach is a bit more subtle than King's.

And what of everyone's favorite sewer clown, Pennywise? It's no secret that Bill Skarsgård is reprising his role from the films, but it's also recently been revealed that the character won't show up right away — at least not in clown form. But those who have seen the film or read the book will recall that Pennywise is a shape-shifting creature who can take on various different appearances to scare his victims (King goes so far as to have the monster take the shape of pop-culture killers like the titular character from "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," "The Creature From the Black Lagoon," "The Mummy," and the shark from "Jaws"). This aspect of the character allows "Welcome to Derry" to get creative, finding ways to have Pennywise wreck constant havoc without having Skarsgård appear in every episode. This might disappoint some hoping to get wall-to-wall Pennywise, but it actually enhances the show by increasing the types of scares from episode to episode.

Unfortunately, "Welcome to Derry" also seems a little too hellbent on explaining every single mystery. This is a problem inherent to prequels in general: spelling things out and answering questions that no one was asking to begin with. Part of the power of a horror story like this involves keeping things mysterious; over-explaining things kills the momentum. Speaking with EW, Fuchs mentioned that one of the goals of the show is to reveal the "origin" of Pennywise, but ... do we really need that? Isn't the killer clown far scarier if he remains shrouded in mystery? He's a shapeshifting clown-monster — things like that should defy reasonable explanation, shouldn't they?

Whether or not "Welcome to Derry" over explains things remains to be seen. One thing is certain, though: the show is consistently bloody, with a mean streak that might catch some viewers off guard. Here is a horror show that lays the horror on thick, embracing the shape-shifting nature of its monster and exploiting it for all its worth (Does a pickle-jar zombie interest you? You're in luck! You want a scary version of Uncle Sam? You got it!). Any horror show that unleashes a torrent of creative ghouls on the viewer is commendable, and ties in nicely with the neverending spookhouse horrors of King's novel. For now, "It: Welcome to Derry" is a total monster mash that should satisfy hungry horror fans.

/Film Rating: 7 out of 10

"It: Welcome to Derry" premieres October 26, 2025 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.