Welcome to Derry: HBO Max series will be demented and terrifying

Last week, we learned that Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice) and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman), who was a co-producer on It: Chapter Two, have been hired to serve as the showrunners on the HBO Max streaming series called Welcome to Derry, which will serve as a prequel to the adaptations of Stephen King’s It that were directed by Andy Muschietti. Now Variety has asked HBO Max’s head of originals Sarah Aubrey for an update on the status of the show – and her answer included the words “demented”, “scares”, and “terrify”.

Here’s what Aubrey had to say: “We have been working with Jason Fuchs, Brad Caleb Kane, Andy Muschietti and (his producing partner / sister) Barbara Muschietti very closely…They’re so deep into this mythology and they have such a firm handle on the storytelling around these characters and also the demented scares that they’re putting into things. Sometimes I’m, like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Just all the wild ways they think up to terrify us. You’ll be hearing more concretely about that development very soon… Andy is very involved in every bit of this, so that is the real recipe for success and for delighting fans.“

The Muschiettis are executive producing Welcome to Derry through their company Double Dream. Fuchs and Kane are also executive producing the series, which is coming to us from Warner Bros. Television. HBO Max has given the project a series production commitment. Fuchs and the Muschiettis have also written the script for the first episode of Welcome to Derry, which Andy is expected to direct.

The Ankler speculated that Welcome to Derry will likely explore the origin story of Pennywise the Clown as well as the dawn of the 27-year curse that haunts the small Maine town. Variety has said that the show will begin in the 1960s in the time leading up to the events of It: Chapter One, which was set in 1988. The story is also said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.

With a page count that goes well past 1000, King’s novel It (pick up a copy HERE) tells the following story:

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.

Are you looking forward to watching Welcome to Derry on HBO Max? Let us know by leaving a comment below.