HBO's Welcome To Derry Season 2 Officially Bringing Pennywise Out Of The Sewer

Cover your eyes, Pagliacci, because there's a lot more clownery afoot. HBO's "It: Welcome to Derry" Season 1 was largely a success story upon its release late last year, translating the uber-profitable "It" movies to the small screen for a prequel adventure that, essentially, told the origin story for the killer clown known as Pennywise. Star Bill Skarsgård came back to reprise his role, a whole new batch of kids were introduced (and, shockingly, killed off in Episode 1), and we uncovered all sorts of new clues about the ancient evil residing within the town of Derry and its time-traveling plans to wreak even more havoc on innocents. 

After months and months of creators Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, along with showrunner Brad Kane, playing coy about continuing this show, it appears that the inevitable has finally become official. HBO has just announced that the bad times will keep rolling on, as "It: Welcome to Derry" has been renewed for a second season full of blood, guts, and (probably) some seriously deep-cut Stephen King references. This lines up with much of what the Muschiettis have publicly hinted at when it comes to Season 2, given the possibilities of going back even further in time to focus on a new group of characters as they contend with Pennywise's recurring cycles of activity every 27 years or so.

Indeed, per HBO, "Season 2 takes place in 1935 during the Great Depression and centers on the bloody massacre of the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammo and end up facing unimaginable horror" (itself a storyline straight out of King's source material).

Ready to face down an ancient, cosmic evil all over again? After the breakout success of both "It" blockbusters (despite the relatively less impressed reactions inspired by 2019's "It: Chapter Two") and the debut season of "It: Welcome to Derry," HBO is moving forward with even more of where that came from. The prequel series will continue to tell the horrific story of Pennywise the dancing clown and his reign of terror over Derry through the ages. "Welcome to Derry" Season 1 seamlessly set up the potential for future seasons via the reveal regarding Pennywise's conception of time as being much less linear than how we perceive it. That means he's able to go backwards and forwards — perhaps, as our characters realized to their horror, encountering their own parents in an attempt to prevent his fate in "It: Chapter Two."

But that's getting slightly ahead of ourselves. For now, all we know is that the vague plan is for at least three seasons in total, though this may have changed in the time since. Andy Muschietti has previously spoken about "Welcome to Derry" shining an even brighter light on certain subplots, particularly those Season 1 touched on. There's no word yet on the new cast we'll be following this time around, but we can certainly expect more adaptations of author Stephen King's work that never quite made it to the movies before. Either way, we can't wait to see what the Muschiettis, Brad Kane, and their team have cooked up this time around.

No release date has been announced just yet, but stay tuned to /Film for more updates on "It: Welcome to Derry" Season 2 as they come in.