IT Director Reveals How Many Seasons Are Planned for Welcome to Derry (And When They Take Place)

The upcoming HBO series IT: Welcome to Derry already has a season count mapped out for its story. Welcome to Derry acts as a prequel to the Andy Muschietti-directed IT movies of 2017 and 2019, based upon Stephen King’s eponymous horror novel. Speaking to Radio TU, Muschietti revealed his vision of the show as running for at least three seasons.

“It’s a story that’s based on the interludes of the book. The interludes are basically chapters that reflect Mike Hanlon’s research,” Muschietti stated, adding, “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…We are basing the three seasons of this series on each of these catastrophic events.”

Muschietti also added that Welcome to Derry will actually go backward in its chronology, stating, “There’s a reason why the story is told backward. So the first season is 1962, the second season is 1935, and the third season is 1908.”

Given the long history of Pennywise haunting the citizens of Derry, there is certainly ample room for Welcome to Derry to showcase his monstrous history in these radically separate 20th-century time periods. Moreover, in addition to Andy and Barbara Muschietti returning as co-creators for Welcome to Derry alongside IT CHAPTER TWO co-producer Jason Fuchs, Bill Skarsgård also reprises his role as Pennywise the Clown from the IT movies,

[RELATED: Pennywise the Clown Appeared in One Other Stephen King Novel After IT]

Stephen King adaptations have a somewhat hit-and-miss history on the big screen, but Muschietti’s IT movies fall into the former classification. IT: Chapter One debuted in theaters on September 7, 2017, with IT CHAPTER TWO releasing two years later September 6, 2019. Both IT films were huge hits, respectively earning $704.2 million and $473.1 million worldwide, and while the reception to CHAPTER TWO was somewhat more mixed, the two big-screen IT movies are among the most popular Stephen King adaptations.

As in King’s novel, the IT movies focus upon a group of kids in the town of Derry, Maine known as “The Losers Club,” who encounter a mysterious supernatural monster preying on the children of the town, taking on the form of Pennywise the Clown. Though the Losers seemingly put a stop to Pennywise, after learning of his return 30 years later, they reunite as adults to defeat Pennywise once and for all.

Muschietti’s IT movies split King’s very long novel into two parts, with the first movie focusing on the Losers as kids, and CHAPTER TWO devoted to their second battle with Pennywise as adults. While the Losers themselves won’t be back for Welcome to Derry, Bill Skarsgård’s return as Pennywise will bring plenty of the terror and thrills of the big-screen IT movies into different time settings. If IT: Welcome to Derry proves popular on HBO, Stephen King fans could even potentially see the series move beyond Muschietti’s stated three-season goal.

IT: Welcome to Derry will arrive on HBO in 2025, with Season 1 consisting of nine episodes.