HBO's It Spinoff Releases Next Ahead of Schedule on HBO's Digital Service

Fans are eagerly awaiting for the horror series It: Welcome to Derry, already earning acclaim and weaving in elements from other Stephen King works. Now, the broadcaster has revealed that episode two will arrive early, released fittingly for the spookiest night.

Early Release Details

Starting on Halloween night at 12 a.m. Pacific Time, the second episode of the Derry prequel will premiere on the streaming service, ahead of its Sunday HBO premiere. Future chapters of the show's first season will continue to air on the weekend on the network and streaming service, leading up to the season finale on December 14th.

Storyline Summary

Set in Stephen King’s It universe, Welcome to Derry borrows elements from the classic book while enlarging the universe realized by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in It and It Chapter Two. It Chapter One focused on kids and teens facing terrifying threats, thus it's suitable that this show upholds that legacy. Yet, the premiere episode of HBO’s Welcome to Derry demonstrates it set out to raise the stakes, providing even more intense scares than Muschietti’s films and creating a dark atmosphere for the upcoming episodes.

Setting and Themes

Set in 1962, the program features a different group of grown-ups and kids residing in a apparently peaceful community hiding a sinister core. This place follows a cruel, recurring cycle—one marked by hostility, discrimination, and otherworldly forces, as a terrifying being reappears each 27-year cycle. Even though Welcome to Derry might appear like it leans too heavily to the films at first, what distinguishes the HBO Max series is its dual perspective—narrated via the perspectives of kids and grown-ups simultaneously. The kids remain especially susceptible to the entity's fear, but grown-ups don't escape confronting their personal demons born from local discrimination and covert otherworldly powers.

It: Welcome to Derry debuts on October 31 at midnight PT.