Halloween has brought an unexpected treat for fans of supernatural horror.
HBO has released a surprise episode of It: Welcome to Derry on its streaming platform, timed perfectly for the spooky holiday. The 30-minute special, titled “A Story of Derry,” takes place hundreds of years before the events of the series and the arrival of Pennywise.
The unexpected release comes after HBO renewed the series for a second season in August. It: Welcome to Derry first debuted on HBO Max on Oct. 26, 2025. Inspired by Stephen King’s novel It, the series expands the story established in the two-part film reboot released in 2017 and 2019, serving as a prequel to those movies.
Before the official Season 2 renewal was announced that month, co-creator Andy Muschietti revealed that the writers’ room had already begun working on the next installment.
Muschietti explained that the upcoming season would explore the hardships of the Great Depression and how people struggled to survive during that period.
“There’s gonna be a lot of that depression-era hustling in the air in our characters. Everybody’s trying to get by and survive the circumstances. They are gonna do crazy things,” Muschietti said.
He added that the series would also address the difficult social and cultural realities of the historical period.
“And of course, the social, cultural, horrible things that were happening in the era, too. We’re not going to skip those. [They are the] very center and the heart of our story.”
The co-creator also indicated that Season 2 would look noticeably different from the first season, with a distinct visual atmosphere.
“In this case, on the surface, Derry is a graveyard almost. It’s a carcass of something because people are depleted, poor, tired, jobless, homeless. The kids don’t have a suburban, comforting life,” Muschietti said.
He described how some of the younger characters would face particularly difficult circumstances, including living without families or having to run away.
“They’re in a very different situation. Some of them are orphans or runaways, and so the environment is pretty bleak. But there’s always the aspect of hope that is always there, burning, and it’s what keeps our new group going.”
The first season takes place in 1962 in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, exploring the community’s earlier encounters with Pennywise, the evil shape-shifting clown.
Season 2 will move further back in time to 1935, during the Great Depression. According to the official logline, the storyline “centres on the bloody massacre of the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammo and end up facing unimaginable horror.”
The Bradley Gang Massacre also appears as one of the interludes in King’s original novel.
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