The IT universe is expanding again - and this time, we’re returning to where the nightmare began. HBO’s upcoming prequel series Welcome to Derry has fans (and floaters) counting down to the inevitable re-emergence of one of horror’s most enduring villains: Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
But here’s the twist - even as the series starts teasing supernatural horror beneath 1960s small-town Americana, the infamous clown has yet to appear. That absence is both tantalizing and excruciating.
“It’s not if, it’s when,” says co-showrunner Jason Fuchs, who co-wrote IT: Chapter Two. “We’re letting the tension build until you can practically hear the red balloon squeak.”
Building the Horror Without Showing the Monster
Welcome to Derry plays a long game. Set decades before the Losers Club’s story, the series traces the origins of Derry’s curse — the strange disappearances, the children’s drawings that bleed, and the creeping sense that evil is cyclical.
For now, the monster lurks in suggestion: whispers in the sewer, laughter in radio static, shadows beneath streetlights. It’s a creative gamble that recalls Spielberg’s Jaws — showing less to scare more.
“The restraint is deliberate,” explains director Andy Muschietti, returning as executive producer. “Pennywise isn’t just a character, he’s a presence. You should feel him long before you see him.”
