{"id":436776,"date":"2026-05-20T14:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/436776\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:16:12","slug":"how-it-welcome-to-derry-will-shift-themes-in-future-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/436776\/","title":{"rendered":"How ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Will Shift Themes in Future Seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there\u2019s been no official HBO confirmation that It: Welcome to Derry<\/a> is returning, the show\u2019s popularity means more is all but guaranteed<\/a>. Two of the show\u2019s main architects, sibling team Andy and Barbara Muschietti, have long spoken about moving backward in time<\/a> for the next Welcome to Derry season (or seasons), in keeping with Pennywise\u2019s 27-year hibernation cycle.<\/p>\n

More recently, Andy Muschietti honed in on the stories they hope to explore (yep, it\u2019s 1930s gangsters<\/a>). And now, the Muschiettis have said a little more about the themes they\u2019re planning on digging into.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Indiewire<\/a>, the duo looked back at season one and acknowledged how much its tone mirrors the political climate of today, despite being set very specifically during the Cold War.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a time where fearmongering is practiced a lot,\u201d Andy Muschietti said. \u201cPeople should know that it\u2019s a construction\u2014not everything that comes from \u2018up there\u2019 is true. It\u2019s orchestrated to divide us and make us fear each other for profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That outlook was mirrored in It: Welcome to Derry\u2018s first season. Pennywise (Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd) emerges to terrorize the kids in Derry, and we hear a lot about how he feeds on the fear he generates. That\u2019s why the military summons Major Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), newly recovered from a head injury that diminished his ability to feel fear, to work on a special project with General Shaw (James Remar).<\/p>\n

As we learn by the end of the season, Shaw wants to capture Pennywise so he can literally weaponize the clown\u2019s ability to inspire fear; his ultimate goal is to make all of America more obedient and compliant. (It doesn\u2019t end well for Shaw.)<\/p>\n

And as Muschietti himself says, the whole theme of season one was \u201cthe weaponization of fear.\u201d However, that will expand in the future to include \u201cthe weaponization of faith\u201d and \u201cthe weaponization of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exactly how that will play into It: Welcome to Derry\u2018s storytelling remains to be seen, but with Pennywise in the mix\u2014and current events being what they are\u2014you can expect fear will still play a big part.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are living in a world where the weaponization of fear is something that has to be fought daily,\u201d Barbara Muschietti told Indiewire. \u201cIf we are not aware, and if we don\u2019t fight it, we will succumb like Derry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While there\u2019s been no official HBO confirmation that It: Welcome to Derry is returning, the show\u2019s popularity means…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[61978,72647,156,2592,25764,111,139,69,26513,437],"class_list":["post-436776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-andy-muschietti","tag-barbara-muschietti","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo","tag-it-welcome-to-derry","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-stephen-king","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}