Pennywise is headed to the small screen.
Big news in the Kingverse today. After two massively successful reboot films, it seems like HBO is now getting their cut of the Pennywise pie. Internet insider Jeff Sneider has shared to his blog The Ankler a scoop recording a prequel series. According to Sneider, HBO Max is actively developing (the reportedly titled) Welcome to Derry, an It prequel television show.
After the two New Line Cinema/Warner Bros It films collectively earned around a billion dollars at the global the box office, this news comes as no big surprise. We just can’t get enough of Pennywise. According to The Ankler author Jeff Sneider, Welcome to Derry “would likely explore the origin story of Pennywise the Clown as well as the dawn of the 27-year curse that haunts the small Maine town.”
Interesting. Check out the blog post to read more. The author makes sure to note that the series has not yet been officially green-lit. However, it does seem to be moving at full steam ahead. According to Sneider, a writers room “is being/has been convened for the project.”
IT the novel was written by Stephen King in 1986. It spawned into a 1990 television mini-series with Tim Curry in the role of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The character would be made famous again by Bill Skarsgard in the reboot films, which are some of the most financially successful horror films of all time.
The original novel told the story of a group of kids in the town of Derry, Maine who are forced to team up to defeat a very nasty supernatural clown. The group of survivors face the clown as children and then again 27 years later.
Check out the Development Hell podcast episode about Cary Fukunaga’s unmade version of the 2017 It adaptation:
Lastly, how do you feel about the world of It expanding with Welcome to Derry? Will you be checking it out once it hits HBO Max? Let me know on Twitter via @joshkorngut. I’m always around to chat all things Stephen King!
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