Revisiting Derry: Why the new IT series doesn't quite work

The announcement of IT: Welcome to Derry on May 20, 2025 got many horror fans excited — myself included. Derry and its locals hold a special place in the hearts of audiences worldwide as the movies' massive box office returns suggest. Realistically, the creators would've been crazy not to expand the universe of Pennywise. But was it worth it? Let's find out!

⚠️ Warning: Minor spoilers ahead!

Image credit: HBO / Warner Bros. via WallpaperCave.com

Building on nostalgia

Let's face it — it's much more fun to watch something you're already familiar with. It feels like you're in on the secrets of a character or their world and in most cases it feels very comforting. That specific phenomenon is called nostalgia, or as some experts like to call it comfort media, and it's very profitable.

Some examples for this are the Fantastic Beasts film series (a Harry Potter spinoff), The Originals (The Vampire Diaries spinoff) or if we want to go way back to the early 2000's we could mention Angel, a spinoff of the popular TV show Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

These examples are, in my opinion, important because they show how eager they were to profit off the glory of their original counterparts and somehow they were nowhere near as successful as the source material. I'm afraid that this could be the case for 'IT: Welcome to Derry' as well.

We're back in a familiar town with some new characters. As it turns out, they exist mostly to support the existence of the well-established ones from the IT universe. The thing that grinds my gears here is that these bonds don't really add much to the story. They aren't revealed until the very end of the season and they don't add a lot of value to the story except for that "Oh, I know that name!" moment. In addition, Pennywise's newly revealed ability to bend time was a bit confusing and poked a big hole in the plot of the second movie. Like Schrödinger's cat, it would seem that Pennywise is also dead and alive at the same time. I have a nagging feeling this could mean a new sequel to the movie franchise.

Scares that don't deliver

In the past few weeks I've heard people praise this show for a handful of reasons. Some say story-wise it's the best horror show of the decade, others like to highlight the performance of certain actors. If we're being honest, it's a good show, but it's definitely nothing to write home about.

The big reveal of the show is a device which could hold IT at bay. This could've been very powerful imagery-wise, but somehow they managed to turn it into something that reminds me of a fairytale powered by friendship. To be fair, one of the main motives of the franchise is friendship and acceptance. Somehow the show takes all that to a completely new — perhaps even excessive — level. Let's take the scene at the old tree as an example. One could argue it's over-exaggerated to add to the suspense, but thanks to the aforementioned connections to the original characters, we know they will survive which takes the guess-work out of it.

Speaking of being over the top, let's talk about Pennywise. I've never seen him as terribly scary, his movements and facial expressions were always amusing and funny. I'm sad to admit that while I was watching the show I laughed way more than I felt scared or nervous. Horror movies should have some humorous moments at times to lighten the mood and help the audience feel more at ease, but this franchise took that to an exaggerated level as well. Thanks to this, instead of truly scary scenes with a bloodthirsty monster we got the ones with a weird-looking, dancing clown in need of immediate dental work.

A familiar formula

Reusing a proven formula for content is nothing new. We've seen it many times in promotional posters, plotlines, lyrics, even social media. The question is, does it pay off in terms of viewership?

Something I've noticed while doing my research for this article is the similarity between IT: Welcome to Derry and Stranger Things: a parent who doesn't give up when their son disappears, an interdimensional/otherworldly antagonist, a person with special powers who's instrumental to the plot. And of course the main point, the misfit group banding together to defeat The Big Bad ™ and no one is safe. If we look at the promotional pictures alone, the colors and the overall setting feel very familiar.

Netflix didn't release official viewership figures for Stranger Things, but HBO's Welcome to Derry pulled an amazing 20M viewers globally. That alone tells us that repeating the same old formula pays off. Netflix's show premiered on July 15, 2016, a year before the remake of Tim Curry's original depiction of the famous monster. This means that, in a way, it showed a need for the genre because people were truly interested in these kinds of stories. After the success of Stranger Things and the IT movie franchise the team behind Welcome to Derry had more than enough time to create something that will help fill the void. A story which will feel familiar but will have its own perks — ultimately giving us the over-hyped prequel to a classic and well-loved horror story.

Image credit: HBO / Warner Bros. via deadline.com

I'd say that IT: Welcome to Derry most definitely isn't the horror show of the year. In my opinion, that title should go to From on MGM+, but that's a different article I'll have to write.

After taking everything into consideration, this show isn't bad, but it isn't worth the hype. It has a few good actors, a tried and tested blueprint for the story and a dancing murder-clown. What other show could say the same thing?

All jokes aside, if you loved Stranger Things, you're probably going to like this one too. Unless you're scared of clowns, of course. :)