2023 (or will we have to wait until 2024?) could be the year(s) of horror franchise prequel series. We know Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th prequel series, is coming soon to Peacock, and Velma, a Scooby-Doo prequel series, recently premiered on HBO Max. But It has one in the works, too. Welcome to Derry.
The second I learned about it I had so many questions. Like these six.
What about you? If you have any additional questions about Welcome to Derry that I didn’t think of, be sure to leave a comment. Maybe we can figure it out. Or at least have some fun speculating together about what’s to come.
1. What kind of series will Welcome to Derry be, live-action or animated?
We don’t have a lot of specifics regarding the series yet, but I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be live-action, not animated.
2. What will Welcome to Derry be about?
Not many details about the storyline have been released yet. However, according to Variety, it will start out 20-something years before the events in It: Chapter One, so the 1960s. It will also reveal Pennywise’s origin story.
3. Has it started filming yet?
Almost. Shooting for Welcome to Derry is slated to begin in April 2023 in Toronto, Canada.
4. Who will play Pennywise? Bill Skarsgard?
A lot of people would like to see Bill Skarsgard reprise his role as Pennywise in the series, and hope he will, but there haven’t been any casting announcements yet.
However, according to The Illuminerdi, talent scouts were looking for a group of kids to cast in leading roles, as well as “a Black, Male lead in their 30s to play a patriotic Army man.”
How will they all fit together? More questions! But they’ll all get answered in due time, right?
5. Will Stephen King be involved?
While King’s book inspired the series, he won’t be involved with bringing it to life.
6. Where will we be able to watch Welcome to Derry?
We’ll be able to stream it on HBO Max.
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What do you want to know about Welcome to Derry?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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The first thing that popped into my head was if we get to learn Pennywise’s origin. Glad to hear that’s in the plans!
Once again, your brains are showing. lol Seriously, though, you’re so smart. I just took it for granted he’d be in it (because how can you have something “it” without him?). But I never even considered what his origins as the human clown might’ve been.
Personally, I can’t stand prequels, especially if I already know the story that follows. It’s kind of like “Better Call Saul” just didn’t do it for me after watching “Breaking Bad,” which I binge-watched twice. However, Priscilla makes a good point. I would like to know more about the history of Pennywise, which was never really alluded to much in the book or the movies. I read that monster of a book the day it came out many, many moons ago, and I was enthralled from cover to cover. I couldn’t put it down. So in a way, even though I’m not a “prequel-guy,” I think, hopefully, this may turn into something good. And, please, let’s not make it animated, then this guy will not be attending for sure.
LOL Well here’s hoping it’s not animated for sure (which I’m pretty sure it’s not), and that Pennywise’s background story proves intriguing enough to make this a worthwhile prequel. And I had such mixed feeling about Better Call Saul at first. I didn’t really understand what they were doing with it at first (like why they chose to do it that way), but then the writing and characters just drew me back in. Which, yes, most of them we already knew, but we get to know them a little better. Is it as good as Breaking Bad? No. But I ended up still liking it, much to my surprise. lol
I noticed that many people did. The ratings told that story. Personally, I just couldn’t do it, because I had such an affinity with the characters from Breaking Bad, I believe.
That’s understandable. Hey, we like what we like and ain’t nothing wrong with that!