‘IT: Welcome To Derry’ Officially Returns With Surprise Episode Ahead of Season 2

HBO Max struck gold when the beloved streaming platform decided to bring the twisted world of Stephen King‘s IT to the small screen with the hit horror series, Welcome to Derry. Taking place 27 years before the events of Andy Muschietti‘s original IT film, Season 1 of the series follows a new group of children who are tormented by the maniacal killer clown known as Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgård, who reprises his fan-favorite horror icon from the films) during the 1960s. The series completely took over the streamer, becoming one of HBO Max’s most-watched shows ever. With that, it’s no surprise that the prequel series was eventually renewed for Season 2, but in a true Halloween miracle, the series has returned earlier than expected.

In a true horror shocker, HBO Max has officially revealed IT: A Story of Derry — a brand-new secret episode that is available to stream right now on the platform. Taking place even further back in the IT timeline, long before the mysterious entity took the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the new episode follows three young Native American women as they have their first encounter with the near-immortal, shapeshifting monster that Derry is so infamous for. The new episode takes a deep dive into the franchise’s lore, even incorporating some of the original books more “out there” concepts. The secret chapter also features a surprise appearance from Zahn McClarnon — the beloved actor best known for his work in Dark Winds and Westworld.

The original IT novel was published by Stephen King in 1986, and is widely regarded as one of the horror guru’s magnum opus. The lengthy novel was first adapted in 1990 as a miniseries, featuring the late great Tim Curry in the role of Pennywise. The book then received the feature film treatment as a two-part feature that went on to shatter box office records for the horror genre.

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.

What Do We Know About ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 So Far

IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 is in early development, but we already have a bit of a sense of what will be in store for the series. Co-creator and producer Andy Muschietti previously revealed to Variety that Season 2 of the series will be a brand-new story following a new set of characters, this time taking place in the year 1935. At the center of this new story will be the Bradley Gang, a group of ill-fated gangsters who have a run-in with the clown, who also made a brief appearance in the notorious opening credits of Season 1.

IT: A Story of Derry is streaming now on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on Season 2.

It: Welcome to Derry