IT Prequel Series Welcome to Derry Confirms Cast for HBO Max

The IT prequel series Welcome to Derry on HBO Max has found its first cast members. Variety brings word that four stars have become attached including Taylour Paige (Zola), Jovan Adepo (Watchmen), Chris Chalk (Gotham), and James Remar (Dexter, Django Unchained). It’s unclear who any of them will be playing in the series, but considering their the first to be added to the call sheet it seems likely they’ll be the focus of the show. Though no official word has been announced on what the plot for the series will be, or who any of the four above will be playing, considering three high profile black performers are now attached we can likely make a guess what Welcome to Derry will be about.

This is speculation on our part, but as Stephen King readers will recall, a major location in Derry that is spoken about in IT: Chapter One and in the IT novels is The Black Spot. In the text this is a club started by Mike Hanlon’s dad Will and some of his other black friends. What began as a refuge for the black people of Derry turned into tragedy as it was burned to the ground by a group of racists in the town. These events are even directly addressed in the first IT movie from 2017, which has us thinking that maybe this TV series is about that specific piece of time in Derry’s history.

As fans know, in the continuity of IT, Pennywise emerges every 27 years to feed on the town and its young children. Should the upcoming Welcome to Derry series on HBO Max actually tell this story it would be set in the early 1960s, allowing it to fit perfectly in the time frame before Andy Muschietti’s first movie. 

The biggest lingering question about Welcome to Derry however is what it intends to do with the character of Pennywise. Since the series is seemingly related to the two movies that Muschietti directed many fans might be expecting to see actor Bill Skarsgård return to the role. In a recent interview however Skarsgård revealed that currently he’s not attached to the series.

“We’ll see what they come up with and what they do with it. I’m, as of now, not currently involved in it,” Skarsgård shared with Jake’s Takes. “And if someone else gets to do it, my advice would just be: do it your own, make it your own, have fun with it, you know what I mean? What I thought was so pleasurable about that character was how incredibly abstract he was.”   

Stay tuned for more details on Welcome to Derry.