October may not be as chock-full of new horror offerings as a month with Halloween in it might suggest, but it does contain my most anticipated genre series from the entire 2025 TV schedule: HBO’s latest foray into Stephen King-inspired nightmares, the prequel spinoff IT: Welcome to Derry. While not the usual direct book-to-screen adaptation, this show uses King’s historically haunted Maine town as a launching pad for new characters, monsters, and story connections. And guess what? It’s already earned the biggest vote of confidence possible.
As it turns out, Stephen King is one of the lucky audience members who was able to catch some or all of the new series weeks ahead of release — which may or may not also be the case for yours truly — and he didn’t hold back from spouting out some early praise on social media. Check out what he said about it on Threads:
WELCOME TO DERRY is amazing. First episode is terrifying.
upcoming Stephen King project of 2025, which has been one of the strongest years yet for King adaptations. Perhaps most notably, it’ll feature the long-awaited and hard-earned return of Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise, as well as the actor’s “human” form of Bob Gray. (Who was teased along with another nightmare creature as part of the show’s Funko merch.)
The story, which will no doubt feature some discomforting racial undertones, centers on parents Leroy and Charlotte Hanlon moving to Derry in 1962 during a troublesome time where a young boy has gone missing. But that’s just the first in a line of horrifying incidents that haunt the town and its inhabitants, with the Hanlons learning firsthand just how dark and evil Derry’s roots are as more children start disappearing.
Check out the full-length trailer for IT: Welcome to Derry below!
As seen in the promo, the IT offshoot features Gotham vet Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann years before his fateful connection with The Shining‘s Danny Torrence, as well as a visual reference to Shawshank State Penitentiary. More familiar to IT fans will be all the floating people and the notion of a giant Paul Bunyan statue on the way. I cannot WAIT for that sequence, but I’m also wondering how that asteroid-esque moment will play into explaining the evil lurking below the town.
Don’t just take Stephen King at his word, though, even though he IS a writer, and that’s traditionally the main way we tend to handle them. Be sure to tune into IT: Welcome to Derry, to see how high you’ll be floating for it as well, when it airs on HBO (and streams via HBO Max subscription) on Sunday, October 26. Just in time for Halloween, Georgie.