HBO's horror series IT: Welcome to Derry has had Stephen King fans on the edge of their seats for the past several weeks, following a new generation of losers and Derry residents who face the iconic creature, mostly known as Pennywise the Clown. Developed by the same team behind IT and IT: Chapter Two, the eight-episode show takes place 27 years before the film adaptations, as Pennywise reawakens and a mysterious military plot targets the entity.
Welcome to Derry came to an end on December 15, with a finale that brought the prequel in line with the events of the film and gave a hint of what's in store for potential future seasons. Below, read on for what to know about IT: Welcome to Derry season 2, including what that season finale cameo says about the series's future.
Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) reveals that he experiences the past and future at once in the IT: Welcome to Derry finale.
Has 'IT: Welcome to Derry' been renewed for season 2?
As of the Welcome to Derry season finale, HBO has not given word on whether the hit horror series will return for a second season. Although a renewal wasn't announced while the season was airing, the show had strong ratings, with its debut on HBO Max ranking only behind The Last of Us and House of the Dragon, per Variety.
Also, co-creator Andy Muschietti has been vocal about his three-season plan for the series since he first teased the show last January. Hopefully HBO will reveal whether his plan will come to fruition soon (whether it's before or after WBD's fate is sealed is anyone's guess).
When would 'IT: Welcome to Derry' season 2 come out?
Fans of genre shows are used to having a bit of a wait for new seasons, and IT: Welcome to Derry will likely follow the trend. However, season 2 is guaranteed to have a shorter production schedule than season 1, which began filming in May 2023 and had to pause during the Hollywood strikes before production eventually wrapped in August 2024. Depending on how fast work resumes on the show, season 2 could return by late 2027 or early 2028.
Pennywise's past will likely be explored even further in season 2.
Which of the cast members would return for 'IT: Welcome to Derry' season 2?
Based on what we know about Welcome to Derry season 2 so far, the only cast member guaranteed to return is the man behind the entity IT himself, Bill Skårsgard. However, there are a couple of characters who could return based on the revelations from the season 1 finale (and the Beverly Marsh cameo). My best guesses are that Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) or Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler) could show up at some point.
Marge (Matilda Lawler) learns why IT targeted the future parents of the Losers Club.
What would 'IT: Welcome to Derry' season 2 be about?
According to Muschietti, seasons 2 and 3 of IT: Welcome to Derry would depict earlier feeding cycles in IT/Pennywise's pattern of waking every 27 years. Season 2 would be set in 1935, and presumably depict the lead-up to the Bradley Gang massacre (that cycle's augury, the final tragedy that marks the end of IT's feeding, like 1962's burning of the Black Spot). If season 3 is greenlit, it would be set in 1908 and depict the Kitchener Ironworks fire. (These cycles are based on Mike Hanlon's research into IT's past in the original novel.)
Season 2 will likely be similar to the debut installment, telling an original story laden with both new IT/Pennywise lore and Easter eggs referencing the earlier adaptations. In the season 1 finale, we learned why those Easter eggs were also important to the overall plot. During their foggy face-off, Pennywise reveals to Marge that it sees time nonlinearly, so it knows that then-13-year-old Marge would go on to give birth to Richie Tozier (played by Finn Wolfhard and Bill Hader in the movies), and that Richie and the Losers would eventually kill him. (This also means that Marge named her eventual kid after her late love, Rich, and now I'm sobbing.)
Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya), I will never forget you.
After the '62 Losers send IT back to sleep, Marge speculates that IT could go back in time and target their ancestors, in an effort to stop the kids who would eventually defeat him from being born. With this setup, it seems that IT targeted Marge and Will Hanlon specifically because of their eventual offspring, so expect more generational connections with next season's kids. It's unclear now whether IT could succeed at changing history in later seasons, but it is a good threat to explain the series's reverse-linear timeline.
A bigger question for me as a Stephen King fan is how weird future seasons could go. Will Maturin, the cosmic god-turtle who "once created the universe by barfing it up," finally make it to the screen, or will the show stick with turtle charms and psychedelic roots? Only time will tell.
