As fans of Stephen King’s vast horror universe prepare for the premiere of the TV prequel It: Welcome to Derry, the creators of the show have revealed whether Pennywise will be a central figure. The HBO Max series is set decades before the events that take place in the book, most recently adapted in the 2017 film It and its 2019 sequel. Pennywise is the main villain in both film chapters, whereas the show will explore the origins of how and why the entity acquired its clownish form. However, this doesn’t mean that the character will appear throughout the entire series; in fact, Andy and Barbara Muschietti have said that fans should be patient about Pennywise’s role in the prequel.
The showrunners spoke to SFX magazine (via CinemaBlend) about the series, which premieres on October 26. Bill Skarsgård is reprising his role as Pennywise, and for now, he’ll be the only link between the show and the film series. It: Welcome to Derry takes place in 1962, with a streak of disappearances linked to the return of the entity that feasts on people every 27 years.
When asked about Pennywise’s role in the plot, Barbara Muschietti says they’ve used the character’s unpredictability to create suspense, explaining, “People never know what to expect from Pennywise. That’s the trick. He’s absolutely unpredictable, and that’s what we love, and that’s the freedom we allow ourselves. We are never to know what trickery he’s going to do next.”
The producer also commented on how the show differs from the movies in terms of dosing the scares. “When you’re doing several episodes, you have to make every episode pack a punch,” she said when explaining the transition from the movie to the TV realm, and managing Pennywise’s presence. “That was the hardest balance, to be able to hide Pennywise, but at the same time, create new incarnations and new fears that had a level that could get to a Pennywise-level of fear. Andy did a truly incredible job at that. We don’t see Pennywise for a while, but the things that we see are pretty damn incredible. And there’s so much more!”
Andy Muschietti, on the other hand, cited a Steven Spielberg classic as inspiration. In Jaws, the shark isn’t shown until later in the film, and this worked for the buildup. Audiences kept getting increasingly tense, as they stood clueless about the appearance of the monstrous creature, something Muschietti tried to evoke with It: Welcome to Derry:
“It’s about a build-up of tension. In a series, it translates to basically not showing the monster in a movie until it’s the right time. It’s the Jaws effect. It’s very basic. The idea is building tension around the apparition of a monster that we know already, and people are waiting – when is it going to appear?
“It’s very appropriate for a monster that is a shapeshifter to appear in several different shapes and manifestations before he shows up as a clown. So I thought that was fun.”
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Warner Bros. Pictures
To be clear, no one’s saying Pennywise won’t appear in the prequel It: Welcome to Derry. What the Muschietti siblings are saying is that perhaps the series may not feature the character as much as fans might expect. They also say that the malevolent entity will take other forms before appearing as the clown with a taste for human flesh.
This aligns with their intention to build suspense throughout. “As a concept, it was pretty basic to me that we would delay the apparition of the monster to create that good anxiety and suspense,” added Andy. “When it appears, it appears in a big way. I thought it would be very gratifying for the audience to delay that climax.”
- Release Date
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October 26, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andy Muschietti