HBO's 10/10 Stephen King Series Officially Makes a Meta Addition to Season 2

Any spooky season worth its scares has a project from the master of horror at the top of its streaming charts. This year, Mike Flanagan turned his modern gothic expertise to another Stephen King classic, as he brought a series adaptation of Carrie to Prime Video. The popular series stars Summer C. Howell as the titular telekinetic teenager, with Samantha Sloyan, Amber Midthunder, and horror favorite Matthew Lillard joining the cast.

The series wasn’t just a hit on the streaming charts; it also impressed critics, including Collider’s Nate Richard, who said in his review that the show was “definitely worth a watch for those who hold the novel near and dear to their hearts.” But for all the flowers Carrie received, it couldn’t match the critical reception of 2025’s small-screen King adaptation that stands as one of the decade’s best. IT: Welcome to Derry brought the skin-crawling magic of King’s iconic villain Pennywise to HBO, where it quickly became a favorite, earning 5.7 million cross-platform viewers within three days of its premiere episode and peaking with the finale’s 6.5 million viewers.

Frustratingly, we recently learned that, after being renewed back in August, IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 wouldn’t debut until next year, and likely not until halfway through 2027. But excitement continues to build for a second season that promises even more nightmare-inducing moments, and it seems such moments will be crafted by someone genetically predisposed to frighten those who consume his creativity. Exclusively revealed by Radio Times, it’s been confirmed that Stephen King’s grandson, Ethan, will be writing for IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2. “He’s brilliant and really smart. He’s a chip off the old block,” said showrunner Brad Caleb Kane in an interview. “You can see why the Kings are how they are. It’s definitely passed down genetically through generations.”

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

• He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
• Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
• The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
• You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.

• But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
• Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
• Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
• You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

• You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
• The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
• Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
• Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

• The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
• You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
• That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
• It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

• You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
• Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
• Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
• Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

The ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Tone Will Change in Season 2

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via Warner Bros. Television

• Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via Warner Bros. Television

Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via HBO

• Image via Warner Bros. Television

• Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via HBO

Image via Warner Bros. Television

Image via HBO

There may still be roughly a year until IT: Welcome to Derry is back on our screens, but we already know plenty about what lies in store. In a previous interview, co-creator Andy Muschietti confirmed that a tonal shift will greet Season 2 viewers, with “a lot of that depression-era hustling in the air in our characters.” The 1930s will offer a fascinating cultural backdrop for the events to unfold in front of, with Muschietti adding:

“Everybody’s trying to get by and survive the circumstances. They are gonna do crazy things. 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 centre and the heart of our story.”

“Everybody’s trying to get by and survive the circumstances. They are gonna do crazy things. 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 centre and the heart of our story.”

IT: Welcome to Derry has added Ethan King to the Season 2 writing team. Stay tuned to Collider for more.

It: Welcome to Derry