The Prequel To Stephen King's IT, WELCOME TO DERRY, Delayed Until 2025
HBO will delay a couple of its highly anticipated series due to the ongoing actor’s strike. The shows, which are currently on pause, include The White Lotus Season 3 and the IT prequel series Welcome To Derry. Those shows have officially been delayed until 2025.
Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys, said in a statement: "We had had [Welcome to Derry] scheduled for Halloween '24 but it will likely pushing into '25. White Lotus Season 3, that was going to be '24 and that's likely moving into 2025."
I’ve been especially excited about Welcome To Derry, which will give us a backstory of Stephen King’s horror story IT. The show expands the vision established by director Andy Muschietti’s two IT feature films.
The series is being developed by showrunners Jason Fuchs (It: Chapter II) and Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice), who will also executive produce the series.
The cast for the series includes Taylour Paige (Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Jovan Adepo (Babylon, Watchmen), Chris Chalk (Perry Mason, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), James Remar (Oppenheimer, Megalopolis), Madeleine Stowe (12 Monkeys, The Last of the Mohicans, Revenge) and Stephen Rider (Daredevil).
When previously talking about the mythology of the story, Muschietti said, “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. It’s always exciting to think of eventually exploring this mythology. It’s very exciting. But, for now, there’s nothing on the table.”
While not confirmed, I believe that the series will tell the story of The Black Spot, which was a major location in Derry that is talked about in the movies and King’s novel. The Black Spot was a nightclub started by Mike Hanlon's dad, Will, and some of his friends. It was a place for black soldiers from the nearby Army base to go.
The Black Spot was burned to the ground by the Maine Legion of White Decency. One of the people inside was a young Dick Hallorann from The Shining, who worked in the club's kitchen. Hallorann managed to get out alive and he eventually ended up working at The Overlook Hotel, where he ultimately met his demise.
There are some great prequel stories to tell with Pennywise because the shapeshifting creature has been in Derry, killing people for a very long time. “It arrived on Earth in a massive cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, landing in a location in North America that would eventually become Derry, Maine. Once people settled over this location, It adopted its usual pattern of a 27-30 year hibernation, waking to kill and eat. Each awakening and return to hibernation is sometimes marked by a violent act, such as a mass murder or weather event. In the period between, a series of child murders occurring in Derry are never solved. It is outwardly explained that a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, don't get reported if they happen in the small town. However, the real reason is that the influence of It prevents anyone from investigating too deeply.”
King said of the project: "I'm excited that the story of Derry, Maine's most haunted city, is continuing, and I'm glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara. Red balloons all around!"
Source: Deadline