📺 Creating a prequel for a beloved horror franchise is treacherous territory — even more so when that prequel also functions as a sequel. But Andy Muschietti and his creative team have risen to this challenge with IT: Welcome to Derry, delivering the first season (of a planned three-season arc) and largely succeeding in expanding Stephen King’s mythology without watering it down.

The show’s greatest achievement is how masterfully it weaves history, the supernatural, race relations, and intense fear into an intricate psychological horror. Set in 1962, the series follows decorated US Air Force pilot Leroy Hanlon and his family, who settle in a Maine town that harbors ancient evil, tracing the origins of IT’s Pennywise. Rather than feeling like a money-grab extension, the narrative integrates so naturally into the established IT universe that it feels like it was always meant to exist.

The show’s crown jewel is undoubtedly Bill Skarsgård’s return as Pennywise. The series improves significantly from the fifth episode onwards and becomes outstanding with his presence — he steals the show every time he pops on screen (literally and figuratively). Beyond terrifying audiences, this instalment showcases Skarsgård’s dramatic and comedic abilities — yes, comedic. He is a clown after all. A 1908 flashback reveals Bob Gray as a carnival performer, and Skarsgård brings genuine warmth and tenderness to these scenes before the inevitable horror consumes everything.

The show delivers horror in spades — the violence is plenty graphic and the scares are genuine. The series transforms mundane settings like movie theaters, grocery stores, and sewers into pure nightmare fuel. But what elevates Welcome to Derry beyond mere shock value is its sharp political commentary. The show addresses themes including abuse, racism, psychological trauma, and Cold War-era militarization, grounding its supernatural terrors in very real sociopolitical horrors.

While some episodes are uneven, and pacing issues haunt the first three episodes, the imperfections don’t derail the overall experience. The show rewards patient viewers with increasingly compelling horror and emotional payoffs, and the plot twist in the final episodes proves both unexpected and elegant — the kind of development that expands the IT mythology rather than exploits it. And that’s where Welcome to Derry succeeds where so many franchise extensions fail. For horror enthusiasts and King devotees alike, it leaves us hungry for what’s yet to come — and that’s exactly where a great first season should leave you.

WHERE TO WATCH- The series is streaming on OSN+. You can have a taste of it by watching the trailer on Youtube (watch, runtime: 2:38).

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