Has the obsession with origin stories finally gone too far? The latest somewhat baffling backstory in the works is Welcome to Derry, a prequel to It: Part One that’s in development at HBO Max. As Variety (via The Ankler) reports, the series is “said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.”
But… Pennywise… isn’t just a clown? Anyway. Let’s just go with it.
The It movies made a jillion dollars, so this isn’t exactly surprising. Very little is known about this series, other than that the network has reportedly put together a writers’ room. Is it a prequel just to the films, or Stephen King’s original book, or both, or neither, really? Will anyone from the movies return? Will this actually be a science fiction look at the origins of the creature that appears as Pennywise? Dunno.
What Variety does say is that It director Andy Muschietti will executive produce the series and direct the first episode (if it gets picked up). Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs are also executive producing, and developed the story (which begins in the 1960s) with Andy Muschietti.
HBO Max is having a bit of a prequel party; the streamer also has a The Batman spinoff about Colin Farrell’s Penguin in the works, as well as Dune: The Sisterhood, about Dune’s Bene Gesserit. The Game of Thrones prequel The House of the Dragon is coming this year, and there are plenty more GoT prequels where that came from.
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