Welcome to Derry, a prequel series to It, is in development at HBO Max.
Set in the 1960s, Welcome to Derry will take audiences back to the fictional town of Derry, Maine to focus on the events that led up to 2017's It: Part One, which was based on the iconic horror novel by Stephen King. According to Variety, the series is in early development at HBO Max, with a writers room currently open, and will also tell the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.
From Warner Bros. Television, Welcome to Derry will be executive produced by Andy Muschietti, who directed both It: Part One and 2019's It: Part Two, as well as Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs. Fuchs is reportedly penning the script from a story developed by him and the Muschiettis. Neither Warner Bros. Television nor HBO Max has commented on the project at the time of writing.
While it's unclear if characters featured in It will appear in the upcoming series, Derry, Maine has appeared several times in King's literary universe. The fictional town has been the setting for many of the author's novels and short stories, including 11/22/63, Secret Window, Secret Garden and Insomnia. Derry has also been referenced in even more of King's works, including Pet Semetary, the short story "The Body," Gerald's Game and Misery, among others.
It: Part One was a box office success overall, with the two films earning over $1 billion combined. Part One focused on a group of kids known as the "The Losers Club," who were being terrorized by Pennywise the Clown. Part Two explored the other half of King's novel, which followed the group as adults years after their experience with the entity. Portrayed in the films by Bill Skarsgård, Pennywise is an evil, interdimensional entity that wakes up about every thirty years to feed, usually on unsuspecting children.
While Muschietti adapted King's 1986 iconic horror novel into two separate films, the novel was originally adapted in 1990 as a two-part miniseries starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown. It joins a series of Warner Bros. films that are receiving an HBO Max spinoff or prequel series. The Batman, for example, has two planned spinoff series headed for HBO Max, with Colin Farrell is set to reprise his role as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin for one. Another spinoff was set to focus on Gotham's Arkham Asylum, though development on the series seems to have paused at HBO Max.
Source: Variety