IT: Welcome To Derry is a welcome expansion of Stephen King’s huge novel – here’s why it’s a must-watch this Halloween

With Halloween coming up soon, now is the perfect time for fans to watch It: Welcome to Derry. Anyone who has read Stephen King's huge novel, titled 'It', will know just how much ground it covers, so there's plenty of scope to dive even deeper – and this new HBO Max show does exactly that.

While King's novel spans 27 years, focusing on the late 1950s and mid-1980s, documenting the periods of time where the evil entity 'It' awakens to terrorize Derry, the series focuses on the 60s, so it covers an era we haven't yet seen explored.

In a similar vein to the iconic Georgie scene from the 2017 movie It Chapter One, It: Welcome to Derry starts with the disappearance of a young boy. This prompts some other children in the town to try and figure out what happened, as well as getting to the bottom of why they're experiencing disturbing visions.

Meanwhile, a young Black soldier, called Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), arrives in Derry as part of a mysterious military mission, alongside his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige). The town of Derry is largely white, too, which provides some important narrative around civil rights issues at the time.

At the time of writing, only the pilot has aired on HBO Max with the second episode arriving on Halloween (fittingly) in the US. I've seen the first five episodes and I can confidently say this is a solid pilot, which sets up the rest of the series, but fans may have some frustrations with one major decision.

While Derry and its residents are all integral to the It storyline, fans will no doubt be keen to see Bill Skarsgård back as Pennywise. He delivered a great performance in It Chapter One and its sequel IT Chapter Two, but he has been used sparingly so far in the TV series. But who knows what the future will hold?

Having said that, the suspense is fun and I haven't seen the final three episodes, so it's very likely we'll get to see more of him as the show progresses. Considering Andy and Barbara Muschietti are once again at It's helm, following on from their movies, I'm confident they'll take the show in the direction it needs to go.

It feels like we've needed a show like IT: Welcome to Derry for a while now. According to a post on Threads as seen by MovieWeb, even Stephen King himself was impressed with it. That's high praise from an author who has famously hated some adaptations of his work, so if you don't take my word for it, listen to King.

From my perspective, it was great to be transported to Derry at a slower pace than what a movie can deliver. Pacing the story across eight episodes means we get to see more characters, more scenarios, and take our time exploring a town we really wish we could leave, because it's so fascinating.

The show also sets up some great relationships, too. I can't spoil exactly what, but I did find myself invested in certain dynamics and fearful for what might happen to characters I've already grown to love.

There's plenty of easter eggs for Stephen King fans to enjoy including connections to The Shining, and I think it's well worth people sticking around to watch the second episode and beyond as there's plenty to horrify and delight in equal measure coming up.

Expect some jumpy moments, body horror and plenty of surprises. You're in for a good time if you're already a fan of It and if you're new, then maybe this series will encourage you to seek out the book and the original movies too.

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