Pennywise is back — and he’s scarier than ever.
It: Welcome to Derry floats onto HBO and HBO Max on Oct. 26, rewinding the clown’s clock to 27 years before the two-part movie adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel. New York Comic Con attendees were treated to a sneak peek at what’s in store for the Maine town courtesy of Derry executive producers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti — the masterminds behind the big-screen blockbusters —as well as co-showrunners and executive producers Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane and stars Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, and Kimberly Guerrero.
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Expanding the world of Derry
During the Welcome to Derry panel, Andy Muschietti said that the decision to create a prequel series was made in collaboration with King, whose book inspired the notion of a new story that could be told in reverse. Muschetti has a three-season plan with each season taking place further in the past.
During the development process, Muschietti had conversations with Pennywise’s alter ego, Bill Skarsgård,about the character’s origins. He also took a deep dive into the book to uncover more story elements that provided a blueprint for the new story.
A family affair
Remar, who plays General Francis Shaw, got sentimental during the panel, opening up about how it felt to see the 1960s faithfully recreated onscreen. “I feel like I’m in the Losers Club all over again,” he said.
Remar also emphasized how the cast, showrunners, and producers adopted him as one of their own while he was on set. “You hear a lot about how we form a family in these casts and these productions,” the actor noted. “These guys are my family. I love them deeply. Every day that I went to work, I looked forward to it. I hope you guys feel like you’re part of the family, too.”
Kimberly Guerrero and Taylour Paige in It: Welcome to Derry (Brooke Palmer/HBO)
Representation matters
Guerrero agreed with Remar about the sense of camaraderie among the cast, and also connected the idea of family to the show’s larger themes — the racial inequities that were a part of the pre-Civil Rights era and continue to this day. The Native American actress spoke movingly about how her culture has all too often “been left out of” representation in the media.
“We’ve never ever been able to join you all at the table and we have those stories, too,” Guerrero said. “I’ve spent my entire life working to bring our stories to the world and to help give our just give space for our voices. I have never been to a reservation or a Native American community that did not have a place where you could not go.”
Guerrero described her Welcome to Derry character, Rose, as an elder with a wealth of ancestral knowledge passed down from generation to generation. “Rose knows my community in this story and knows everything that happened before Derry was Derry,” she observed. “There was the first Losers Club — and that Losers Club was a group of indigenous kids. My character plays a direct descendant of those kids.
Who’s who
The other actors also got a chance to provide a personal preview of their characters for the NYCC crowd. Rider plays the town’s projectionist Hank Grogan, and described him as someone who provides escapism to the townspeople through cinema. “The extended community — which is his family in terms of the theatergoers — are a part of his community so if he ever lost that, I think he might be lost,” Rider added.
Meanwhile, Paige — who was fighting back a case of laryngitis during the panel — outlined the roads her character, Charlotte Hanlon, might have taken in another era. “Charlotte very much loves being a mother, but also has other interests and values, like helping people and contributing to society,”
Adepo plays Pagie’s onscreen husband,Leroy Hanlon, a U.S. Air Force majorwho has been summoned to Derry for a mission that’s adjacent to Pennywise’s activities. To prepare for the role, Adepo met with a military adviser who outlined what it was like to be a Black officer in the early ‘60s — an experience that Adepo knew personally due to his dad’s military service. “Getting a chance to play in some form a version of who I thought my father was as a child was really exciting for me,” Adepo said.
Pennywise wears many faces in It: Welcome to Derry (Brooke Palmer/HBO)
Nightmare fuel
Three exclusive clips were screened during the panel, each of featured some of the characters in scenarios where they’re forced to confront their biggest fears. Without giving too much away, one of those scenes involves a pickle jar and is among this writer’s worst nightmares.
A red-band trailer shown at NYCC confirmed that if you’re already creeped out by the It movies, Welcome to Derry will be just as terrifying. The few minutes of footage shown at NYFF had multiple audience members jumping in fright. That’s the Pennywise touch…
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