'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wAARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYH/8QAHxABAAIBAwUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQACBAURIRIiMUGB/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL/xAAYEQADAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAREhcf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AwPVsy+PiUpR37BROHf38k42FXp88xEq6xMXD/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
IT: Welcome to Derry, the prequel series set in the same continuity as the two IT movies released in 2017 and 2019, approaches its air date this Sunday. The series set in the 1960s follows Leroy Hanlon (Mike Hanlon's grandfather) moving to Maine along with their son Will Hanlon (Mike's father). For the uninitiated, Mike Hanlon is one of the pivotal members of the Losers Club, who would finally kill Pennywise the Clown.
HBO confirmed the IT: Welcome to Derry release schedule, which consists of eight episodes. Like every other HBO series, IT: Welcome to Derry is scheduled to air for approximately two months, as the first season premieres this Sunday and concludes on December 14, 2025.
"Set in the world of Stephen King’s “IT” universe, IT: WELCOME TO DERRY is based on King’s “IT” novel and expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the feature films “IT” and “IT Chapter Two.”"
The IT: Welcome to Derry release schedule revealed:
The prequel series to the IT movies airs this Sunday. The IT: Welcome to Derry release schedule looks like this:
- Episode 1: October 26, 2025
- Episode 2: November 2, 2025
- Episode 3: November 9, 2025
- Episode 4: November 16, 2025
- Episode 5: November 23, 2025
- Episode 6: November 30, 2025
- Episode 7: December 7, 2025
- Episode 8: December 14, 2025
When is the first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry scheduled to air?
The IT: Welcome to Derry premiere airs on HBO on Sunday, October 26, 2025, at 6:00 PM PT. Here's when the first episode releases across the world:
- Pacific Standard Time: 06:00 PM, October 26, 2025
- Eastern Standard Time: 09:00 PM, October 26, 2025
- Indian Standard Time: 06:30 AM, October 27, 2025
- Greenwich Mean Time +1: 01:00 AM, October 27, 2025
- Australian Eastern Standard Time: 11:00 AM, October 27, 2025
- Central European Time: 03:00 AM, October 27, 2025
How does the prequel series connect to the Andy Muschietti-directed movies?
As mentioned earlier, IT: Welcome to Derry follows the Hanlon family as they move into Derry. One of the most criticized aspects of the IT movies, despite the acclaim, was that they failed to portray how hard both young and adult Mike had it in the town, even without the supernatural killer clown hunting them down. The book explicitly makes it clear that Derry was racist by choice.
Thus, the prequel series has a chance to depict one of the ignored aspects in the previous adaptation. Also, IT: Welcome to Derry has a chance to flesh out Major Leroy Hanlon's backstory, as he is the one to raise Mike, as the boy loses his mother and father in a fire accident. Leroy has a small role in 2017's IT, where he is a bit strict with his grandson. Thus, we will learn what made him this way in the upcoming prequel series.
Leroy Hanlon in Welcome to Derry is described as a man without any fear, and his stay in Derry is going to be a test. Actor Jovan Adepo, who plays younger Leroy, spoke about his character in an io9 interview:
“It’s something that occurred through a brain injury, and I think it’s something that he wants to disregard every time someone brings it up, because it does recall a moment in his military career that he’s just not wanting to re-experience. I spoke to [director] Andy [Muschietti] about the specifics of the injury and what it truly means to be without fear in this town where the show is about being afraid. I leaned more on the side of not being completely immune to fear but just having a higher threshold for it. And if it’s the most guttural fear that I’m immune to, the other sub-elements of fear are heightened as far as, you know, insecurity, worry, doubt, shame, and any of those smaller elements of it. I never played Leroy as he’s just impervious to any type of jarring moments; he’s just able to withstand a bit more unless it’s something that he really, really cares about, which we can assume is his family.”
Apart from fleshing out the Hanlon mystery, "Welcome to Derry" also includes a major character from The Shining:
Welcome to Derry distinguishes itself from other Stephen King adaptations by finally translating one aspect of the book that other movies and miniseries have previously ignored. The characters in his books frequently made references to other Stephen King characters; For example, Paul Sheldon, the protagonist of King's Misery, shares a connection with the Kaspbrak family, i.e., the same family one of the Losers Club members, Eddie, hails from.
In IT: Welcome to Derry, we are getting Dick Hallorann, one of the main characters of Stephen King's novel, The Shining. In The Shining, Hallorann is the head chef of the Overlook Hotel. There, he encounters the Overlook's winter caretaker, Jack Torrence's son, Danny Torrance, who is also a psychic like him. Hallorann is the one who risks his life to save Wendy and Danny Torrence, as the hotel has possessed Jack, who attempts to kill his wife and son.
After the events of The Shining novel, Dick Hallorann is the one who serves as a father figure to Danny and helps him hone his psychic abilities. However, The Shining is not the only Stephen King novel Hallorann is involved. In IT, he is one of The Black Spot's founders, a bar in Derry that served African-American veterans. However, before the events of the book, the bar burned down because of a hate crime.
One of the fire's survivors is Mike's father, Will, saved by Dick, who uses his psychic abilities. But we don't know the chronology of IT: Welcome to Derry, as of now. Probably, we will get a clearer picture by the time the series concludes. Chris Chalk, the actor who is playing Hallorann in Welcome to Derry, discussed how he prepared to play the role in the series with the io9 reporter:
“In order to create and manifest this version of Dick Halloran, I did observe those performances, but I didn’t—’study’ is too strong a word, because that’s not what we’re doing. If we were doing Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in 2025, then I’m going to study that performance in a different way, but all I have to do is see who he is now and break him down backwards to who he was in an earlier time, and then it becomes about creative freedom and the text. So it’s awesome to have all of these options of people who’ve had their versions of the performance, but just as they had their version, I knew I was going to get my version. Nobody asked me to mimic anybody.”
Trending
Welcome to Derry airs its first episode on HBO on Sunday, October 26, 2025.
Reply
