The Derry Prequel Series Premieres Next Sooner Than Planned on HBO's Digital Service

Audiences are thrilled for the chilling show It: Welcome to Derry, already garnering praise and drawing from elements from the broader King universe. Following the premiere, the broadcaster declared that episode two will debut sooner than expected, timed perfectly for the spookiest night.

Premiere Shift Details

Kicking off on October 31 at midnight PT, the second episode of the Derry prequel will premiere on the streaming service, before its linear broadcast. Future chapters of the show's first season will be released on Sundays on both HBO and its streaming arm, leading up to the final episode on Sunday, December 14.

Series Overview

Set in Stephen King’s It universe, the new series draws from King’s iconic novel while building upon the world realized by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the recent movie adaptations. It Chapter One highlighted kids and teens confronting unimaginable horrors, thus it's suitable that the series continues that tradition. However, the premiere episode of HBO’s Welcome to Derry shows it set out to escalate the fear, providing heightened horror than the cinematic versions and creating a brutal tone for the upcoming episodes.

Story World and Concepts

Taking place in the 1960s, this show features a different group of grown-ups and kids living in a outwardly charming locale masking a dark secret. Derry follows a cruel, recurring cycle—one marked by hostility, discrimination, and otherworldly forces, as a terrifying being returns every 27 years. While It: Welcome to Derry might seem like it leans too heavily to the cinematic adaptations at first, what distinguishes the streaming show is its two-sided viewpoint—narrated via the perspectives of kids and grown-ups concurrently. Children remain particularly vulnerable to the entity's fear, but older characters don't escape confronting their individual fears born from the town's ingrained prejudice and hidden paranormal elements.

Episode 2 debuts on the 31st of October at 12 a.m. Pacific Time.