Writer Shelley Meals has confirmed that writing has begun for the HBO Max It prequel series titled Welcome to Derry. The writer posted it on her Twitter with an image of a hallway with the iconic red balloons with the caption, “First day of WELCOME TO DERRY writers room! We float down here.”
https://twitter.com/1TallGrl/status/1536601789247565824?s=20&t=Ix_hQP5ZMX3T4_n-NliQVw
In March, Variety confirmed that a prequel to the two films that adapted the Stephen King classic horror novel was in development. The It prequel series for HBO Max will be set in the 1960s, leading up to the events of the first film and exploring the origins of Pennywise. The director of both films, Andy Muschietti, will produce the show with Barbara Muschietti.
From a Book to Miniseries to a Film and Now the HBO ‘It’ Prequel Series
King published his massive horror epic in 1986 after five years of writing it. To this day, it is considered to be one of his best works. By 1990, it was adapted into a miniseries with Tim Curry making a career highlight for his role as Pennywise.
At the time of release for the first part of the two films, 2017’s It was the third highest-grossing rated R movie of all time with about $700 million. It is still one of the highest-grossing films with the rating until Joker and Deadpool 2 were released, thus bumping down Deadpool, The Matrix Reloaded, and It. Chapter Two did not perform as well but was still a success with its $473 million, but it was enough to motivate HBO Max to move forward with its It prequel series.
Bill Skarsgård (The Devil All the Time) played Pennywise in the two films. As the kids between both movies, it starred Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard, Jaeden Martell (Knives Out), Sophia Lillis (Sharp Objects), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Big Sky), Chosen Jacobs (Castle Rock), Jack Dylan Grazer (Shazam!), and Wyatt Oleff (I Am Not Okay with This). In the sequel, it got a star-studded ensemble for the adult versions of the kids with Jessica Chastain as adult Lillis, James McAvoy as adult Martell, Bill Hader as adult Wolfhard, James Ransome (Sinister) as adult Grazer, Isaiah Mustafa (Shadowhunters) as adult Chosen, Jay Ryan (Creamerie) as adult Taylor, and Andy Bean (King Richard) as adult Oleff.