Welcome to Derry: It Prequel Series Adds New Cast Members

Yesterday, HBO revealed that they had cast ten new actors in recurring roles in Welcome to Derry, a prequel series to Stephen King’s IT, which will bring back Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. No characters names are given, and with ten people all in recurring roles, it seems likely these will be either members of the Derry community who aren’t main characters, or main characters only in one half of a time-shifted narrative. The new actors will join a cast that already includes Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar and Stephen Rider.

Per Deadline, who first broke the news, here’s the rundown of new actors: Alixandra Fuchs (Hatfields & McCoys), Kimberly Guerrero (The English), Dorian Grey (Star Trek: Discovery), Thomas Mitchell (Spiral), BJ Harrison (Family Law), Peter Outerbridge (Batwoman), Shane Marriott (Fargo), Chad Rook (Billy the Kid), Joshua Odjick (Little Bird) and Morningstar Angeline (Echo). There’s no details on any of the roles just yet.

The news comes less than a day after news that Warner Bros. Discovery will rebrand Welcome to Derry — as well as DC’s Lanterns an a number of other upcoming projects based on popular IP — from Max originals to HBO Originals and move them to the beloved cable network. It’s the latest in a series of moves by WBD management to minimize the importance of the streaming platform to the company’s overall business plan.

In addition to reprising his role from the movies, Skarsgård will reunite with filmmakers Andy and Barbara Muschietti and producers Jason Fuchs, Roy Lee and Dan Lin. They and Skarsgård will all serve as producers on the series, which was developed for television by Skarsgård, the Muschiettis, and Fuchs. Andy Muschietti, who directed the two IT movies, will helm four of the series’ nine episodes.

Welcome to Derry is set in King’s fictional town of Derry, Maine that Pennywise terrorized for generations. It will take place decades before the events of IT. In the novel and original TV adaptation, the earliest events of the story unfold in the late ’50s, though in the two-part cinematic adaptation of the story, this timeline shifted forward for the earliest events taking place in the ’80s. With Welcome to Derry set to be an extension of those films, the new series looks to take place in the ’50s to explore bizarre events in the town that pre-dated the fatal run-ins with the entity living in the sewers of the town.