One of the most popular franchises to get a revival in the last decade has beenStephen King’sIT. The Iconic horror author’s most popular book got rebooted by Warner Brothers withAndy Muschietti’s 2017 filmItwhich quickly led to a sequel in 2019. The dreadfully scary franchise is about to expand into a new prequel series for WB’s rebranded Max streaming service, and now we knowWelcome to Derrywill debut in 2024.The news came as part of a larger Max rebranding announcement where WB laid out their new pricing model and future lineup for the streaming service. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as thefirst casting announcementsfor Derry were made earlier this month. So far theITprequel series starsTaylour Paige,Jovan Adepo,Chris Chalk, andJames Remar. The series will beco-showrunbyJason FuchsandBrad Caleb KanewhileMuschietti will direct several episodes ofDerry.
What’sWelcome to Derryabout?
While there’s still a lot ofhorrifying mystery surrounding the series,Welcome to Derrywill start in the 1960s and slowly lead up to the events of the firstITfilm. WhileBill Skarsgård’s not expected to returnto the series as Pennywise,Derrywill be further exploring the villain’s origin story. This is only something that was hinted at in the two It films. What exactly Pennywise is and how they tie into the larger “King-verse” has been something that has largely been left on the pages of the author’s meaty 1000-plus page horror epic. Because of that, it’s going to be very interesting to see whatDerrypulls from the source material and how it connects to its cinematic counterpart.
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The Legacy ofITand Pennywise the Dancing Clown
When King’s novel was released in 1986,ITtook the horror world by storm and Pennywise was quickly adapted into a TV movieminiserieswhich famously starredTim Curryas the traumatizing dancing clown. While that series is beloved by many genre fans who grew up in the 90s and Curry’s performance is still regarded as one of the best in all of horror, the miniseries itself hasn’t aged the best. That’s where the 2017 reboot comes in and, similarly to the book and the miniseries, it became an insane pop culture moment for a new breed of horror fans. It made over $700 million worldwide which landed it as a top 5 highest-grossing rated-R film of all time.
Smartly the film only covered half the story, the Derry kid’s younger years, which left a lot of room for the sequel to run wild in 2019. WhileChapter 2focused on the children as adults with Pennywise returning after they were defeated 27 years prior, the film was at a disadvantage because it was telling what most fans consider the weakest part of the story. That being said,Chapter 2still managed to be ascary good time at the moviesand was another major hit for WB. This led King’s other works to be remade likePet SemataryandFirestarter, but the town of Derry has so much untapped potential. That only makes this prequel series more exciting as Derry has one of the most tragic backstories in genre history.
While horror fans anxiously wait for 2024 to return to Derry, you can view the 2017ITtrailer down below.
