IT: WELCOME TO DERRY Drops a Surprise Halloween Episode on HBO Max
Happy Halloween! HBO Max has surprised horror fans with a special new episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, giving us another trip into Stephen King's nightmare-fueled world just in time for the holiday.
The 30-minute special, titled “A Story of Derry,” dropped overnight and takes viewers back long before Pennywise started terrorizing the town. Rather than continuing the events of the first season, the episode explores the ancient evil's history and the people who first encountered it.
Directed by Tazbah Chavez and written by Cherie Dimaline and Jasmyne Flournoy, the episode follows three children “venturing into the Western Wood…where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit.”
Fans of Welcome to Derry will recognize the connection to the show's fourth episode and IT: Chapter Two, which explored Pennywise's origins. The terrifying creature actually came to Earth millions of years ago as a transdimensional entity, eventually developing a taste for human fear.
A Native American tribe discovered a way to contain the creature by creating a dagger that trapped its spirit within the forest, keeping the evil from spreading beyond its boundaries.
The Halloween special digs further into that mythology while bringing back several familiar faces from the series. Kimberly Guerrero returns as a young Rose, while Morningstar Angeline and Kiawentiio reprise their roles as the warriors Sesqui and Necani. Zahn McClarnon also joins the cast for the special.
It's a pretty cool Halloween treat for fans who have been looking forward to more of King's twisted mythology, especially since the wait for Welcome to Derry Season 2 could be a long one.
The next season is expected to take a different tonal direction, so this special offers an opportunity to explore another piece of Pennywise's history while expanding on the mythology introduced in the show's 1962 storyline.
“A Story of Derry” is now streaming on HBO Max, with a separate American Sign Language (ASL) version also available.
If you're looking for something creepy to watch this Halloween, a return to Derry sounds like a solid choice. After all, there's still plenty of terrifying history left to uncover in that town.