Welcome back to Derry, because Hollywood can’t resist the allure of a good nostalgia harvest. HBO has renewed their Stephen King prequel series It: Welcome to Derry for a second season, because what’s a successful show without milking it for all it’s worth? The first season, which debuted in October 2025, reportedly ranked among the top four series premieres globally in HBO Max history, making it a no-brainer for the network to greenlight another season.
The series is inspired by Stephen King’s novel and Andy Muschietti’s two-part film adaptation It, because who doesn’t love a good origin story? The first season was set in the 1960s, but the next season will take us even further back in time to 1935, during the Great Depression. According to HBO, Season 2 will center on the bloody massacre of the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammo and end up facing unimaginable horror. Because what’s a Stephen King story without a healthy dose of violence and terror?
The Never-Ending Story
The show builds off the mythology of Derry, Maine, introduced in King’s 1986 novel It. The book was then adapted into two hit films by director Andy Muschietti, It and It: Chapter Two. Muschietti continued with the concept by developing Welcome to Derry and directing multiple episodes during Season 1. It’s a testament to the enduring power of King’s story, and the fact that Hollywood can’t resist a good franchise. After all, why create something new when you can just reboot or sequel-ize an existing property?
Producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti commented on the news of Welcome to Derry‘s renewal, saying, “Continuing to explore and expand on the amazing world Stephen King created is an absolute privilege. The support of our partners at HBO and Warner Bros. Television is priceless. Boy do we love our jobs!” It’s a statement that sounds like it was pulled straight from a press release, but hey, who can blame them for being excited about getting to play in the Stephen King sandbox again?
The Merchandising Opportunities Are Endless
The announcement did not give a timeline for a premiere date for It: Welcome to Derry Season 2, but you can bet that the marketing department is already hard at work coming up with ways to sell us more It-themed merchandise. After all, what’s a successful show without a slew of overpriced t-shirts, Funko POP!s, and other assorted knick-knacks? It’s a good thing that the show is still streaming on HBO Max, so we can all relive the horror and excitement of Season 1 while we wait for the next installment.
As the entertainment industry continues to search for fresh ideas inside movies released between 1982 and 2008, it’s comforting to know that It: Welcome to Derry is still out there, churning out content for our consumption. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll get a Welcome to Derry movie, or a theme park attraction, or a line of It-themed restaurants. The possibilities are endless, and the Content Mines remain fully operational. Somewhere, a focus group is earning another bonus, and executives are nodding very seriously during an expensive meeting, declaring that history is being made. Again.
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
