There’s likely nobody who’s had a bigger impact on the world of horror than Stephen King, and It: Welcome to Derry certainly recognizes it. The HBO prequel series expands the mythology of It while diving deeper into the dark heart of Derry, Maine, the cursed town that has haunted readers and audiences for decades. Developed by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the creative team behind It and It Chapter Two, the show doesn’t just revisit familiar terror but builds on King’s foundation to explore what came before and why fear is deeply rooted in the small town.
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For the Muschiettis, the allure of returning to Derry wasn’t about recreating what worked in the films but about completing what King had intentionally left open.
“For the first time, we’re filling the spaces,” Andy Muschietti explained. “We’re creating events that are not in the book in order to complete the puzzle that was intentionally unfinished by Stephen King.” His sister and producing partner Barbara called it an act of freedom, one done with King’s blessing and active collaboration. “He understands and is excited at the prospect of that creation,” she said. “It’s wonderful to be able to do this with him.”
That sense of creative trust has allowed the team to turn the show into something both expansive and personal. Andy describes it as exploring “the iceberg under the water”. It's the mysteries of what It really is, why it feeds, and how it reflects the worst of human nature. Barbara grounds that mythology in emotional realism: “What’s incredibly important for us always is to have an emotional anchor. We created characters that are human, with real life problems. Our Hanlon family is the perfect example... a Black family leaving the South to find a better place, only to end up somewhere even worse. Because people care about the characters, the gruesomeness of the show works.”
Related: Iconic ‘The Shining’ Character Returning in ‘It: Welcome to Derry’
That balance between the cosmic and the human runs through every level of the show's creation. For showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane, who inherited the Muschiettis’ cinematic world and turned it into a serialized format, the responsibility of adapting King carried both weight and excitement. “We wanted to respect the themes of the book,” Kane said. “The weaponization of fear. Fear being used as a tool to divide, to conquer, to gain power. The end of innocence. Growing up and learning to confront your fears and your traumas. We wanted to start there and extrapolate from there.”
Unlike the movies, Fuchs and Kane weren’t confined by the limits of an adaptation. Instead, they were free to chart the unseen corners of Derry’s history. “In some ways It: Chapter Two was pure adaptation,” Fuchs said. “With Welcome to Derry, we’re looking at a map that’s partially constructed, but with many blank spaces. The challenge was filling those spaces in a way that felt authentic to King’s tone and themes. It was invention, but always in service of what he created.”
Every addition to the story... every new scene or piece of lore, still passes under King’s “watchful eye,” as Kane put it. “He looked at everything, every story outline, every script. Occasionally he would give a note, and if Uncle Stevie gives a note, you take it. It inevitably made the story better.”
That mix of reverence and reinvention carries through to the cast as well. For The Stand alumnus Jovan Adepo, returning to King’s world was a full-circle moment. “
When I actually got the part, I asked Andy and Barbara if Stephen knew that I was playing Leroy, and they said yes... and that he was really excited,” Adepo said. “To be invited back was awesome. It felt like an honor.”
Related: Critics Call New HBO Horror Series ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Truly Terrifying’: ‘The Creepiness Level Does Not Disappoint’
His co-star Taylour Paige, making her King debut, captured the awe many actors feel stepping into this universe: “The name is just synonymous with greatness. He has this way of processing the human psyche in a very entertaining, f***ed-up way that has kept us all entertained for generations.”
That blend of myth and humanity is also what drew actors like Chris Chalk and Stephen Rider. Chalk, who plays Dick Halloran — a character immortalized in The Shining — called the experience “rock and roll.” Rider shared that he auditioned for It: Chapter Two years ago and lost the part, only to find himself cast now. “It broke my heart,” he said of that earlier rejection. “But six years later, I got the job. And honestly, I feel like this is the character I was meant to play.”
For veteran actor James Remar, joining a Stephen King project at last felt like crossing something off a career-long bucket list. “It’s like the Red Sox finally going to the World Series,” he said. “It really is the height of achievement to be invited into a Stephen King adaptation.”
His co-star Kimberly Guerrero, who plays a key role connected to Derry’s Indigenous mythology, emphasized what it meant to bring authentic representation to King’s universe. “It’s an honor and a responsibility,” she said. “To bring Indigenous lore, real history, real people... to show that they were there, that they loved and lost... that’s powerful.”
Across every level, It: Welcome to Derry takes the familiar horror of King’s world and finds new ways to make it resonate. The fears may be otherworldly, but the pain, prejudice, and humanity at the story’s core are achingly real. And if there’s one thing King has always understood, it’s that evil isn’t confined to monsters in the dark; it also lives in people, in places, in history itself.
Related: You Won’t Believe Stephen King’s Favorite Horror Movie
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