With a combined box office of over a billion dollars brought in by Warner Bros’ wildly popular It film franchise, it doesn’t take a detective to see why Max is eager to go ahead with the planned spinoff Welcome to Derry.
The spinoff/prequel series, which was announced back in 2017, got a brief teaser in December alongside Max’s other upcoming projects (including House of the Dragon season 2) but has yet to land an official trailer. For horror fans, the chance to once again return to the quaint little Maine town can’t come soon enough.
What is Welcome to Derry about?
Unlike the 1990 miniseries and the 2017/2019 films, Welcome to Derry will be the first entry in the world of the It franchise not to be directly based on source material from Stephen King.
Though Max’s series will take place in the world King created (the title, of course, references Derry, Maine, where the events of the It book take place), there is no existing prequel novel to It, meaning the characters and plot of the series are entirely unknown. Aside from Pennywise the Clown, who has terrorized Derry since the inception of the franchise, it’s anyone’s guess which characters will be the heroes of Welcome to Derry, and if they’ll have any connection to the Losers Club from the original novel.
Who’s working behind the scenes on Welcome to Derry?
Like 2017’s It and 2019’s It Chapter Two, Welcome to Derry is helmed by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the brother-sister duo who wrote, directed, and produced the most recent reimagining of It. Alongside the Muschiettis, It Chapter Two producer Jason Fuchs will serve as creator and executive producer, as well as showrunner for the series alongside Brad Caleb Kane.
Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, Taylour Paige, James Remar, and Stephen Rider are set to star, though details regarding characters are under wraps.
Is there a Welcome to Derry release date?
Because we haven’t even gotten a proper series trailer for Welcome to Derry, there’s unfortunately not a concrete release date for the series yet. Max released the above 2024 sizzle reel back in December, which featured a few titles “coming in 2025” at the end. That included the initial sneak peek at Welcome to Derry alongside other anticipated titles like The Last of Us Part 2 and Euphoria season 3, but that first look didn’t mention a specific date.
It’s worth noting that several of the titles included in that section didn’t even feature new footage, meaning it’s likely to be a long while until we get a specific release date. We do know that the SAG-AFTRA strike halted production on Welcome to Derry back in mid-July of 2023 and that the series is still filming, with an anticipated wrap date of June 28. Regarding a release date, 2025 certainly seems realistic considering production still has three months of filming left.
(featured image: Max)
