A Terrifying 2025 Stephen King TV Series Is Dominating HBO Max's Top Charts

You'll float, too — all the way to the top of the streaming charts, apparently. As the weather gets cooler and Spooky Season is in full swing, you have to hand it to HBO and series developers Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs. They knew exactly when to unleash their newest Stephen King adaptation, "It: Welcome to Derry." Just in time for Halloween, the prequel story to the two "It" blockbuster movies has finally made its way to the HBO Max streaming service following rave reviews (including by /Film's own Chris Evangelista) and no end of hype amongst horror fans. That interest is clearly translating to ratings, which bodes incredibly well for the rest of the season to come in the weeks ahead.

We can already consider "It: Welcome to Derry" a bona fide streaming hit, based on the early returns. Third-party analytics site FlixPatrol has crunched the numbers, and, well, let's just say that the studio suits over at Warner Bros. Discovery are likely cracking open a celebratory bottle of champagne or two. Even over six years after the release of "It: Chapter Two," audiences obviously can't get enough of that killer clown Pennywise ... even if he's yet to appear in the flesh. Following the season premiere, FlixPatrol reports that "Welcome to Derry" has become an instant success, ranking at the top 1 or 2 of every major market worldwide in terms of views as of publication.

That certainly checks out, considering HBO poured a not-insignificant amount of resources into the marketing for this series. The show has already displayed a taste for brutal violence and shocking twists. From what we can tell, there should be plenty more where that came from.

2025 continues to give us a veritable feast of Stephen King adaptations, from the grueling experience of "The Long Walk" to Osgood Perkins' comedic-minded "The Monkey" earlier this year to Edgar Wright's upcoming "The Running Man," but perhaps the horror gods are saving the scariest for last. Without spoiling anything for viewers who have yet to watch the premiere, "It: Welcome to Derry" has all the makings of pop culture's next big obsession. The sprawling ensemble cast promises several potential fan-favorite characters in waiting, the action and scares on display rival anything in either of the big-budget "It" movies, and the creative team seems to have free rein to take this narrative anywhere they want it to go. And all that comes with the looming specter of our favorite Eldritch horror villain pulling the strings ... even if we have to wait a bit to see Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise finally make his reappearance.

Set in 1962, "Welcome to Derry" tells the story of the same small town of Derry and its unfortunate inhabitants during Pennywise's last cycle of activity, prior to the events of the films. We're following a brand-new Loser's Club, a heavily-militarized faction of adults with no idea what they're in for, and all sorts of clever and unexpected connections to other characters we know and love. Since this isn't based on any single King work, however, the show's creatives have the freedom to mix and match aspects from both the movies and King's "It" novel as they see fit. The result could be this year's appointment TV viewing, assuming the rest of the episodes live up the promise of the premiere.

New episodes of "It: Welcome to Derry" hit HBO Max every Sunday.