‘Welcome to Derry’: HBO Releases First Teaser Trailer for ‘It’ Prequel Series

HBO is getting ready to travel to Derry, Maine. Ahead of the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale Sunday night, HBO released the first terrifying teaser for its It spin-off series Welcome to Derry, expanding the world of Stephen King’s horror classic.

The brief, seconds worth of footage revealed little about the upcoming show, and did not show Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise, but set the tone of what’s to come. “This ain’t America, this is Derry,” Jovan Adepo’s character says in a voiceover as a glimpse of the “Welcome to Derry, Maine: Birthplace of Paul Bunyan” sign is shown alongside a montage of terrified characters, some soaked in blood.

While the nine-episode series will be set in the universe created by King in his 1986 horror novel, it will expand upon director Andy Muschietti’s 2017’s It and its 2019 sequel, It Chapter Two, serving as a prequel to the films. Welcome to Derry will reportedly be set in the ’60s and will include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown, with Muschietti previously telling io9 that “there is a whole mythology to the book though…Mythology is something that always has opportunities to explore. It [aka Pennywise] has been on Earth for millions of years. He’s been in contact with humans for hundreds of years, every 27 years. So you can imagine the amount of material.”

Welcome to Derry stars Taylour Paige (Zola), Jovan Adepo (Watchmen), Chris Chalk (Perry Mason), James Remar (Oppenheimer), Madeleine Stowe (Revenge), and Stephen Rider (Daredevil), with Skarsgård reprising his role as Pennywise from the 2017 and 2019 films. Alixandra Fuchs (Hatfields & McCoys), Kimberly Guerrero (The English), Dorian Grey (Star Trek: Discovery), Thomas Mitchell (Gangland Undercover), BJ Harrison (Family Law), Peter Outerbridge (Saw VI), Shane Marriott (Fargo), Chad Rook (Billy the Kid), Joshua Odjick (Little Bird), Rudy Mancuso (The Flash) and Morningstar Angeline (Echo), also star.

The series is set to premiere in 2025, though an exact release date hasn’t yet been announced. The show will air on both HBO and Max. Andy and Barbara Muschietti are on board the Pennywise prequel project from Warner Bros. Television, with Muschietti set to direct several episodes. Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane are attached to the project as co-showrunners.

In addition to Welcome to Derry, HBO’s two-minute Sunday sizzle reel also teased the Thailand-set The White Lotus Season 3, And Just Like That Season 3, The Gilded Age Season 3, and the Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.