After six years, Pennwise has returned. Bill Skarsgård is back as the horror icon in the official trailer for It: Welcome to Derry.
Just as HBO did with the teaser trailers for Welcome to Derry, the official trailer for the upcoming It prequel is light on actual footage of Skarsgård’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown, opting instead to focus on the new set of characters who will be the focal point of the show, such as Taylour Paige and Jovan Adepo’s married couple, Charlotte and Leroy Hanlon, who move to Derry, Maine with their son in 1962. Check out the official It: Welcome to Derry trailer, as well as a new poster, below.
Credit: Poster via HBO Max
Paige recently opened up about the “historical fiction” approach the prequel took and how it impacted her performance. “Women were still working to emancipate themselves, but their typical role would be homemaker, you know, stay-at-home mother,” she explained. “I’m sure we’ve all seen an MGM movie or something of that time, and the women just sound different. They articulate differently. There’s an elegance, there’s a carefulness. So there was that. But then my character is a little bit at odds with that role, and then also, with every role, I always work from the feet up.”
She continued, “I’m just excited that this is coming out. I think it’s both important and entertaining. It’s historical fiction in the same way that it exists in this genre, and obviously comes from one of the greatest minds of all time, and you have everything.”
Welcome to Derry Adapts a Crucial Part of Stephen King’s It Novel
Andy Muschietti’s It duology adapted the major parts of Stephen King’s acclaimed novel, meaning that Welcome to Derry needed to dig a little deeper for its source material. Back in January, Muschietti revealed that there was a three-season plan for It: Welcome to Derry, with each season set to be based on a different interlude from the original novel.
“The interludes are basically chapters that reflect Mike Hanlon’s research. They’re fragments of his research,” Muschietti explained. “So they talk about catastrophic events from the past, like the fire in the Black Spot…. the massacre of the Bradley Gang, a gang of bank robbers in the ’30s… and the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks. Every time [Pennywise] comes out of hibernation, there is a catastrophic event that happens at the beginning of that cycle.”
Welcome to Derry being based on the interludes is another reason why the prequel’s story is being told in reverse. If a second season is ordered, it would be set in 1935, with the third and final season taking place in 1908. Of course, King fans will need to tune in if they actually want to see Muschietti complete his plan for Welcome to Derry, although the filmmaker has shared that Warner Bros. is “very interested in making the second season as soon as possible.”
It: Welcome to Derry is set to premiere on HBO on Oct. 26.
Release Date
October 26, 2025
Network
HBO
Directors
Andy Muschietti
Bill Skarsgård
Pennywise
