TV Series Review: IT: Welcome to Derry (Season One – 2025)

I don’t rate IT. Let’s get that clear from the start. The nostalgic love many have for the original TV two-part movie is not something I share. The book is one of Stephen King’s most bloated efforts and while I did think IT: Chapter One (the remake) was decent, IT: Chapter Two was nothing special.

I mention this because the lack of love I have for the franchise and its iconic villain character meant that I went into IT: Welcome to Derry with low expectations. At best, I hoped for a character or two that I could get behind, a bit of lore expansion, and maybe a few Pennywise scenes that entertained. What I expected though was half-hearted horror, with a slew of references to the films, and probably a finale that finally introduced the clown following tease after tease.

Isn’t it great to be wrong?

Not completely, but enough so that the result is a TV show that went above and beyond expectations, becoming my favourite thing to come from the franchise to date. It: Welcome to Derry has flaws, and some are really glaring, but over eight episodes, it delivers entertainment. It also delivers a ton of compelling characters, an interesting story that really opens up the franchise to new ideas, plenty of gruesome horror, and more Pennywise antics then anyone could have expected. I’ll go into more detail later, but this is where Bill Skarsgård really gets to be his own thing as Pennywise. No longer handcuffed to the Stephen King story and the demands of an earlier film.

He stars alongside a strong cast that include Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Clara Stack, Amanda Christine, and Mikkal Karim-Fidler.

Set in 1962, amid Cold War paranoia and racial tensions, It: Welcome to Derry is a prequel to 2017’s IT: Chapter One and 2019’s IT: Chapter Two.

Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) has just moved to Derry as part of his army deployment (Air Force) with his activist wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and young son, Will (Blake Cameron James). An arrival that coincides with one of the periods when the entity behind Pennywise is active. In fact, their arrival happens at the same time as another young child named Matty (Miles Ekhardt) disappears. While that is unfortunate, their arrival is not coincidental.

Francis Shaw (James Remar), a lieutenant general, is running an operation to find the entity, believing it is a weapon that the US can deploy against their enemies. An insane idea, but one made more possible by the powers of Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), who is helping the Air Force find what they need.

Elsewhere, following a child massacre in a movie theatre, the projectionist Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) is blamed even though one of the survivors Lilly (Clara Stack) saw what happened and it was something more sinister. Of course, being black makes Hank an easy target for a predominantly white town, but his daughter Ronnie (Amanda Christine) refuses to let him be blamed for something he didn’t do. Alongside Lily, and several other excellent characters, she sets out to prove her father’s innocence, find out what happened to Matty, and get evidence that IT exists.

All these stories will eventually come together, bringing Derry and everyone within into a head on collision with the entity. It knows that people are watching, and it loves the attention.

There’s a lot going on here, not only subplot wise, but character wise too. Which inevitably means certain initially important things are dropped as the show goes on. Some characters stop being a focal point of the show, and the direction shifts constantly between horror, fantasy, and comedy. Some of which highlights the flaws in the writing, some of which make the show more entertaining, and some of which sit squarely in the middle being unremarkable, but enjoyable none the less. There is a constant back and forth across all eight episodes which I think means it won’t have a huge amount of memorability long term, but when the show gets it right, it really gets it bloody right.

One such aspect that it gets right is the blending of other Stephen King properties and the hints to a ‘sort of’ Kingverse. Let’s be clear, I don’t want that. We have that in book form and it’s the sort of idea that will inevitably fail in visual form, but here the blending feels less about references and more about creating a larger world for the creators to explore. Sure, there are plenty of nods that are designed to make a viewer snort and elbow the person next to them, but they rarely feel egregious and often serve the overall plot.

The most prominent of this is the character of Dick Hallorann, way before he would end up a hotel in the rocky mountains of Colorado, and way before he really understood how his power could be a force for good. Chris Chalk is one of the standout actors of the show and by the end, there was no doubt in my mind that this was Dick Hallorann.

It’s hard to fault any of the actors though, and once again, we have a set of youngsters who hold their own against a set of seasoned adult actors. IT has always produced quality here, and that is no different with this show. I particularly enjoyed the characters of Marge (Matilda Lawler) and Rich (Arian S. Cartaya), who are adorable and involved in some of the show’s most harrowing moments.

Speaking of which, the show does not mess around when it comes to gore and violence. There are some outrageous scenes of horror with this proving to be one hell of a violent watch too. The sight of Pennywise chewing on a half-decapitated head or settling down in his lair amongst the blood, limbs, and entrails of his child victims is quite something.

Alas, this is also an area where the show does stumble quite significantly too. With many set pieces becoming quite cartoony with matching visuals too. A lot of effort was put into making Welcome to Derry feel authentic, it’s a shame that this didn’t extend to the effects. Some of which are downright awful.

They’re probably at their worst in the final episode, which coincidentally is also when the writing of the show just gives up and races to a hurried finale that pushes the limits of believability. It’s a good finale, don’t get me wrong, but you might find yourself rolling your eyes at the sight of a CGI Pennywise transforming into a winged bat creature and the kids having to carry a weapon that is the equivalent of the one ring from Lord of the Rings.

These are the moments that don’t work and it’s a shame to see the show resort to CGI in favour of actually having Bill Skarsgård there. Especially as he is having a blast here, getting to do things with Pennywise that the films never allowed him to. Not only that, he gets to develop the character too and show a different side to the clown act as the show gives us the origins of the look. There’s simply no faulting a performance as inspired by this, and even some downright Goosebumps style scares can’t diminish his intimidating and sinister act.

As the show ends, Chapter One is added to the title screen, revealing that there is more to come. This makes sense and is hardly a surprise, but thankfully it will take place in a different time period and focus on different characters as this story wraps up neatly and connects to the films in the final scene.

I was satisfied and can honestly say that I enjoyed the show for what it was. It’s far from perfect, but compared to what it could have been, what we got is a triumph of story creativity, casting, and character work.