Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise Returns in IT Prequel Series as Eerie First Look Teases 'Something Bad' Preying on the Young
Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise Returns in IT Prequel Series as Eerie First Look Teases 'Something Bad' Preying on the Young

Published: May 20, 2025

HBO unveiled the first teaser trailer for its upcoming IT prequel series, IT: Welcome to Derry, on Tuesday, May 20. The upcoming horror series marks Bill Skarsgård's return as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a.k.a. "IT". The show is slated to premiere on HBO and HBO Max this fall.

The nearly two-minute-long clip opens with a young boy hitchhiking in the dead of night. He gets a couple to stop, and they tell him, "We'll get you back to your parents safe and sound, okay?" But when he tells them where to go, he says, "Anywhere but Derry."

Fans of author Stephen King's IT universe are no stranger to the danger that lurks within the shadows of the picturesque Maine town. However, this go around, the series is traveling back to 1962, several years before the events that transpired in IT: Chapter One took place.

A young couple (Taylour Paige and Jovan Adepo) moves to Derry with their son, something happens four months after a young girl went missing, "and they never even found a body."

As the mystery unfolds, the series promises to deliver on the logline's promise that the horror show "expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the feature films IT and IT Chapter Two."

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With mysterious activity afoot, one child feels that "no adult's ever gonna believe what we saw." As another kid notes how they "wouldn't" believe it either, a third child points out that "there's a history of stuff like this happening in Derry."

As the trailer progresses, mayhem begins to swirl, from items falling off shelves to children screaming all around. Several kids are then seen banging on a door, begging to get out.

"There's something bad here in Derry," one kid says.

Before the clip closes, fans get the first glimpse at Skarsgård, 34, returning as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a.k.a. "IT." Emerging from the darkness within the sewer, Pennywise erupts into maniacal laughter.

IT: Welcome to Derry was first announced in 2022. Chris Chalk, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, and Rudy Mancuso also star in the series inspired by King's famed 1986 horror novel.

The series is the latest onscreen adaptation of the IT book, succeeding Stephen King's IT (1990), Woh (1998), IT (2017), and IT: Chapter Two (2019).

Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti (through their Double Dream production company), Jason Fuchs, Brad Caleb Kane, David Coatsworth, Bill Skarsgård, Shelley Meals, Roy Lee, and Dan Lin serve as executive producers. Additionally, Fuchs, who wrote the first episode, and Kane also double as co-showrunners.

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IT: Welcome to Derry will premiere on HBO and HBO Max this fall.

Read more: Entertainment, TV, Scripted TV Shows