Killer Clowns and Red Balloons: What to Know About ‘It: Welcome to Derry’

 

The new HBO series is a prequel to the two movies starring Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, based on the 1986 Stephen King novel. Here’s a primer. 

By Robin Raven

Imagine a small town, its citizens mysteriously devoid of basic human decency, set amid the upheaval of the 1960s. Add a wild, wicked entity who can take the shape of his victims’ greatest fears, including a terrifying clown. Reach deeper into the creature’s origins than any film or TV adaptation has done before. Then you have “It: Welcome to Derry,” a new HBO horror series based on the 1986 Stephen King novel “It.”  

Premiering on Sunday, “Derry” is a prequel to the feature films “It” and “It Chapter Two,” directed by Andy Muschietti. (The show was developed by Muschietti; his sister, Barbara Muschietti; and Jason Fuchs.) Set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, the series is based largely on interludes from the novel which delve into the origins of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.  The Stephen King novel “It” was the best-selling hardcover work of fiction of 1986. 

King expressed his delight recently with “It: Welcome to Derry” on Threads, calling it “amazing.” He found the first episode terrifying. Here’s what to know about It before the red balloons start to rise.  

Ancient evil, small-town secrets 

King’s novel begins with the story of seven preadolescent children who, after a young local boy is murdered, find themselves terrorized by the shape-shifting monster Pennywise. The children, who call themselves the Losers’ Club, ultimately battle and defeat Pennywise, but the victory is temporary: The monster reawakens about 27 years later, so the Losers must come together as adults to fight him once again.  

As we learn in the novel, the trans-dimensional entity known as It is actually a Lovecraftian eldritch alien who crash-landed on Earth more than a billion years ago. Although the alien appears most often as Pennywise, its true form is called the Deadlights. This child-killing force of evil tortures its victims because it also feeds on their fear. Balloons serve as Pennywise’s calling card, announcing the clown’s presence, and there were over 100 references to balloons in the novel. 

 Derry serves as the setting for King’s novel “It” and all its screen adaptations. The town is a stand-in for Bangor, the city where King lived for many years, and there are numerous correlations between Bangor and Derry such as its tunnels and sewers.   

Like the book and the movies, “Welcome to Derry” sets its story in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, this time in the early 1960

 One story, many shapes 

The novel, King’s 22nd to be published, was a huge success for King, becoming the best-selling hardcover work of fiction of 1986 — no small feat at 1,138 pages. “It” was first adapted to the screen in 1990 as a two-part ABC mini-series called “Stephen King’s It,” which featured Tim Curry as Pennywise. The next TV adaptation was “Woh”, a 1998 Hindi-language horror series that aired on Zee TV in India.  

Andy Muschietti’s 2017 film, “It,” tells the story of the Losers’ Club as children but places them in 1989. The sequel, from 2019, jumped ahead 27 years; as in the book, the Losers must battle the child-killing clown as adults.

 As a prequel to the two Muschietti films specifically, “Derry” exists on their timeline. Jumping in cold is perfectly fine, but the films offer helpful context for the show’s haunting atmosphere and twisted charm.  

Old horrors, new fears 

The first season of “Derry” follows the macabre goings-on in Derry in 1962, jumping 27 years backward this time, before the 2017 film. The events are based on material from the novel that take place in 1930, so moving it to 1962 changes quite a bit. Instead of Depression-era despair, these characters contend with Cold War tensions and backlash to the Civil Rights movement.  

The first season doesn’t attempt to tell the primary story of the “It” novel. Instead, it focuses on the historical digressions that appear throughout the book. Mike Hanlon, the only member of the Losers’ Club to stay in Derry, does meticulous research on Derry’s past in the novel, and these interlude segments are drawn from the character’s manuscript about the town’s history.  

Fresh faces, familiar frights

 Bill Skarsgard will reprise his titular role from the movies. Beyond that, viewers shouldn’t expect familiar faces from the films. Some last names may ring a bell, however, hinting at ties to the film’s characters. For example, Clint Bowers, Derry’s Chief of Police in “Derry,” is likely the grandfather of Henry Bowers, the merciless bully in the “It” films.  

Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), the telepathic head chef of the Overlook Hotel in “The Shining,” appears in the series like he does in the novel “It.” This a much younger, more troubled iteration of the character than the one who later mentored young Danny Torrance. There are numerous other nods and connections to King’s other works throughout the show, too.  

  Mike Hanlon, who like Hallorann is Black, is an important member of the Losers’ Club in the “It” films, and his grandparents and eventual father are major characters in this prequel. His grandfather, Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), is a young Air Force major who moves to Derry to work at the nearby military base. His wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige), and his son, Will (Blake Cameron James), may soon regret joining him.  

“Derry” includes a new group of preteens, mirroring the Losers’ Club from the films. Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Lilly (Clara Stack) and Ronnie (Amanda Christine) are among the young characters who try to stop the horrors going on all around them. 

 Deep roots, dark secrets 

“It: Welcome to Derry” is infused with a distinctly creeping sense of evil. The show focuses on both adult and child characters, and its multiple story threads explore the intersection of real-world viciousness and cosmic horror. Although the show adds characters and story lines, it is faithful to the themes of King’s novel, including innocence lost, the waking nightmare of childhood trauma and the power of belief.

  King dedicated his novel “It” to his children and offered them this insight into the story, “Kids, fiction is the truth inside the lie, and the truth of this fiction is simple enough: The magic exists.

NEW TORK TIMES