'IT: Welcome To Derry' Pulls Good First Figures

TV & Film

Nov 1

Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise — Image Source: Bloody Disgusting

IT: Welcome to Derry’s season premiere drew an impressive 5.7 million viewers in the U.S. in the first three days since its premiere on HBO and HBO Max. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, this is globally the third-largest series debut on HBO Max, behind House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. This is an impressive start for Derry, which is a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s 2017 and 2019 films, IT and IT Chapter Two, both of which featured Bill Skarsgård as the malevolent entity called ‘IT’, or Pennywise. While the films were based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, Welcome to Derry expands on King’s source material with many ideas developed by creators Jason Fuchs, Andy Muschietti, and Barbara Muschietti. The series has King’s stamp of approval, and if all goes well, the Muschiettis have a multi-season plan, with each season focusing on a different time period and a different set of characters.

Fans of the movies and books have pointed out that the first episode of the series reintroduces two families from the films, with the entity terrorising families across different generations. In honor of Halloween, IT: Welcome to Derry’s second episode dropped last night, two days before schedule. The remaining episodes will be uploaded as scheduled every Sunday, and the season finale will stream on December 14. With Welcome to Derry’s smashing debut for HBO, IT and IT: Chapter Two are currently the #2 and #3 movies on HBO Max. IT: Welcome to Derry’s early success is especially worth noting, as the first few episodes of the series do not feature Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. Although the series will delve into Pennywise’s origins, Andy and Barbara Muschietti revealed that they’ve saved Skarsgård for the latter half of the season, so fans can be sure that they have saved the best for last. IT: Welcome to Derry is streaming on HBO Max.

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