‘It: Welcome to Derry’: Stephen King Prequel Series Returns to Pennywise’s Old Neighborhood With Gruesome Ferocity 

Alci Rengifo

HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry” pulls a fast one all too typical to franchise extensions. This nine-part limited series is being touted as a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s two movie adaptations of Stephen King’s 1986 novel “It.” Yet it’s basically a veiled remake. The events in the narrative do indeed take place earlier than the timeline of the films, but what it does so slyly is basically retell the same kind of story with new characters. Muschietti returns as executive producer and the visual tone of his 2017 and 2019 films colors the show, as well as their skillful use of graphic hallucinations to provide good jump scares. King fans might get impatient with a recognizable tale overstretched while the uninitiated could find more appeal.

The year is 1962 and the town of Derry is having strange, unnerving things happen. A local kid, Matty (Miles Ekhardt) goes missing after trying to run away from the place. A school classmate, Lilly (Clara Stack) is traumatized after having started becoming friends with Matty before he vanished. She’s already ostracized by the school bullies and local community over the violent death of her father and rumors she is mentally unwell. The other key storyline involves Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), a military pilot who has been transferred to the nearby base for a classified project overseen by General Shaw (James Remar). With the Cold War heating up amid reports of Soviet missiles arriving in Cuba, the army is hurrying to search for a mysterious object said to have crashed in the woods near Derry long ago. Leroy is joined by his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and son Will (Blake Cameron James). When Lilly and three other local kids try to trace Matty’s final whereabouts, they encounter a terrifying force that induces visions of your worst nightmares.

If some of this sounds like the storyline about the Losers Club from the original “It,” that’s because the series is essentially revising it, while applying clear influences from recent hits like “Stranger Things.” A pop culture circle is completing itself here, since the shows this one borrows from were themselves written by people who grew up inspired by Stephen King. As a novel, “It” has always been too hefty for one serving. At 1,138 pages, it was adapted as a strong two-part TV miniseries in 1990 that gained cult status. For the big screen Muschietti still had to spread the story over two features. Those productions gave ample space to an effective chiller that doubles as a parable about growing up with the scars of childhood and the way some friendships really do last. “Welcome to Derry” barely ever comes close to that layered richness, preferring simple plot devices that it then stretches out for nine episodes. Viewers are left waiting for all the expected twists, answers and eventual appearance of Pennywise, the story’s famous evil clown (played again by Bill Skarsgård), as if they were rewards for staying loyal during the long haul.

While waiting to get to the climax, what each episode does well is mercilessly bombard the viewer with gruesome scares. The nostalgic glow in the 1960s settings gets shaken by sequences the digital effects team designs with great nightmare logic. A merciless bloodbath ensues in a movie theater with a rampaging demon infant. Lily has a particularly gross encounter with a grocery stand of pickle jars that become an evocation of her dead father’s corpse. The camera never turns away from the monstrosities and anatomical horrors the alien presence around Derry unleashes, not even when a girl’s eyes turn into slug-like creatures and she takes some desperate, extreme measures to get rid of them. “Welcome to Derry” is not for the faint of heart or squeamish. The only flaw in the scares is this constant obsession in modern horror with using the elderly as easy monster devices, as if the mere appearance of being elderly makes you gruesome. There is smarter use of the horror elements in a flashback where local Native Americans battle the entity and one warrior’s fears manifest as a monster priest representing encroaching white settlers. 

For King fans there are plenty of Easter eggs included throughout the writing. Will is meant to eventually be the father of Mike Hanlon, one of the Losers Club members who face Pennywise later in the 1980s. On base Leroy is introduced to Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), a fellow pilot being used by the military due to special powers that help him communicate with the dark force afflicting victims with nightmarish visions. Dick Hallorann also happens to be the name of the chef in “The Shining” who helps Danny understand his own psychic abilities. So this is what Dick was doing before ending up at the Overlook Hotel decades later. Of course everyone mentions Shawshank as the local prison. In a way these winks become essential to keep interest alive. If you read or saw the other versions of “It,” then you already know the source of all the trouble is the entity responsible for Pennywise, which hibernates for 27 years before emerging to consume Derry’s children. So, we already know what the military is searching for and the kids are chasing after. King has done this better himself, as when a time traveling teacher trying to stop the JFK assassination passes through Derry, briefly meeting some of the young heroes from “It,” in his engrossing novel “11-22-63.” 

“Welcome to Derry” would have benefited from putting aside some of the government conspiracy material to leave more room to develop its stronger sections. Like HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” it sometimes uses horror to also address the racism of the era. As a Black American family, the Hanlons face some of the hidden prejudice in the town which can become hysterical over the rise in missing children. The main suspect in Matty’s disappearance is a Black movie theater manager, whose daughter Veronica (Amanda Christine) is soon plagued by horrifying visions and joins forces with Lily. Derry’s local racists pressure the sheriff to target Veronica’s father with a classic lynch mob mentality. Charlotte Hanlon is involved in the Civil Rights movement and fights against bigotry in the town, or the way everyone generally looks away when bullies beat up helpless classmates after school. For once there’s also a Latin character in this story, Rich (Arian S. Cartaya), a child of Cuban immigrants who tries to help by using Santeria to fight off the evil presence with no luck. 

A good King story can be about everyday common fears. Muschietti and this show tap into that in the all too brief scenes about cruel cliques at school or the way friends can betray you over wanting to hang out with the cool crowd. In a sense, Derry as a community should have become the real focus. “Welcome to Derry” instead delivers a rather mixed bag. You can admire its visuals and excellent performances, especially from the young cast, while being left wondering what else the story can offer after the tenth disgusting jump scare. Some terrors lose their potency when they become played out. By the fifth episode it becomes tiresome to see Pennywise’s red balloon hover out of some corner, teasing us that if we keep watching, he will eventually appear. Even if he does, will the clown bring something different to the story? No. Instead, the viewer might feel while watching this show that we are just passing through Derry, catching a glimpse of what it is about and then continuing on to the next stop, or remake.

“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres Oct. 26 and airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.