Welcome To Derry is Already Planning Its Future Seasons
The prequel show is only going to flash back further.
The newest trend in movies — at least, movies owned by Warner Bros. Discovery — is the TV spinoff. The Penguin took Colin Farrell’s breakout role in The Batman and gave him the miniseries treatment, but now rumors are swirling about a possible second season. Dune: Prophecy proved that the Bene Gesserit’s plans really are measured in centuries, with a Season 2 renewal quick to follow.
Now, the third HBO movie spinoff show is gearing up for release, and its creators are already looking ahead to not only Season 2, but also Season 3.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Radio TU, It: Welcome to Derry producer (and It director) Andy Muschietti explained the series’ interesting approach to telling the story of Pennywise’s long history with the Maine town. He revealed the series is adapting the interludes from the book, which detail Mike Hanlon piecing together Derry history.
“So they talk about catastrophic events from the past, like the fire in the Black Spot… the massacre of the Bradley Gang, a gang of bank robbers in the ’30s… and the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks,” Muschietti said. “Every time [Pennywise] comes out of hibernation, there is a catastrophic event that happens at the beginning of that cycle.”
These cycles make for the perfect format for a TV series, with each of the three planned series focusing on a time further back in history. “There’s a reason why the story is told backwards,” he said. “So the first season is 1962, the second season is 1935, and the third season is 1908.”
Andy Muschietti revealed Welcome to Derry has a three-season plan set in three different decades.
The fact that Muschietti has a vision for three seasons is already a great sign for this show’s future. But because of its unique backwards format, it’s possible we may not get the entire story until the end of Season 3 — which means a premature cancellation could ruin the entire experience. However, it’s still a risky choice, as changing the setting to an earlier time period every season means a complete reinvention — a character fans get to know in Season 1 may not even be born yet in Season 2.
The greater It story may be told non-linearly, but it’s all to drive home a central point: Pennywise has always been around in all the darkest points of history. Who knows, if this show proves to be a success, we could even see what Pennywise gets up to in the 19th century.
