HBO Quietly Moves Forward With Welcome to Derry Season 2 Despite No Official Renewal

Alright, let’s talk clown terrors and TV logic. If you’re into It: Welcome to Derry, you’ll probably be glad to hear that a season 2 is apparently moving ahead—even though HBO hasn’t actually waved the official ‘renewed’ flag just yet. Honestly, at this point, the difference between “in development” and “formally greenlit” is mostly paperwork and press releases, but for what it’s worth, the wheels are spinning.

This all got outed more or less incidentally, when The Hollywood Reporter was talking about Christina Hodson landing the writing gig for the new Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie. But tucked in there? A mention that Andy Muschietti (who directed the It movies and is exec-producing Derry) is already knee-deep in the next batch of Pennywise backstory. So, yeah, expect more red balloons and existential dread.

This sequel is going way back

Muschietti’s never exactly played coy about wanting to dig deeper into Derry’s miserable history. In fact, he talked to Variety a while back and basically laid out season 2’s blueprint. Here’s the headline: the next season jumps to 1935, which is 27 years before season 1 (that number will mean something to King fans), and focuses on the “Bradley Gang Massacre,” an Easter egg from the original books. So, Depression-era small-town Maine, gangland violence, and, naturally, Pennywise working his usual supernatural nightmare routine.

'We can only say the stuff that's already known, like it's in 1935, 27 years before season 1 and it involves the massacre of the Bradley Gang from the books,' Muschietti said.

He also confirmed there’ll be some new faces along with a few returning characters—except they’ll be the much-younger versions, since we’re in a way earlier timeline. So, if you’re attached to Kimberley Guerrero as Rose, James Remar as Shaw, or Madeleine Stowe’s Ingrid, expect different actors playing those roles as their younger selves. (Sorry, no de-aging wizardry here, probably for the best.)

What’s the cast situation?

• Bill Skarsgård is returning as Pennywise. Trust him to never miss a chance for demonic clowning.
• Rose (Kimberley Guerrero), Shaw (James Remar), and Ingrid (Madeleine Stowe) are back, sort of—different actors this time out, given the time jump.
• New characters are getting introduced, too, but no details just yet.

So, bottom line: It: Welcome to Derry is basically set up to turn Stephen King’s fictional town into a sort of haunted anthology series, and season 2 is shaping up to be a bloody trip back through the worst history class imaginable. If they actually follow through on the era and keep the scares as gnarly as season 1, I’m on board.

While HBO hasn’t given the big neon-green stamp of approval yet, everything points to more clown carnage on the way. It: Welcome to Derry season 1 (or as the slightly ominous title card dubs it, “Chapter One”) is streaming now on HBO Max. So, if you need to brush up before Pennywise rewinds the clock, now would be the time.