IT: Welcome to Derry is preparing Pennywise's next cycle and producer Andy Muschietti has revealed fresh details about Season 2's plot. The HBO Max horror series serves as a prequel to the IT film duology, directed by Muschietti and starring Bill Skarsgard as the iconic clown. Expanding on the lore from Stephen King's classic novel, Welcome to Derry is almost an anthology in style, chronicling Pennywise's activities across different time periods in Derry.
HBO has yet to officially green-light Season 2 of Welcome to Derry, but during Deadline's Contenders TV panel, Muschietti revealed they were already working on it. Muschietti and his producing partner, Barbara Muschietti, have noted in the past that each season of Welcome to Derry is designed to be 27 years apart, focusing on a different feeding cycle for Pennywise, and working backward from 1988, the main time period in which IT was set. Season 1 took place in 1962 and featured some of the relatives of characters from the IT films.
Muschietti confirmed during the panel that Season 2 of Welcome to Derry will take place in 1935 and focus on the Bradley Gang massacre, which was only mentioned in King's novel. Muschietti outlined that the Bradley Gang is a team of bank robbers who stop in at Derry only for "something horrible" to happen to them:
“It’s 1935 – we’re now working on it, and it’s so much fun. For the ones of you who read the books, probably the Bradley Gang sounds familiar. The Bradley Gang was a gang of bank robbers that — not accidentally, but they were on their way somewhere, and they stopped in Derry to buy some ammo and something horrible happens."
The fear that came with the Cold War was rife in Season 1 of Welcome to Derry, and led the military to try to control Pennywise as a weapon. Season 2 will once again feature a very different atmosphere, exploring the Depression Era in Maine. Muschietti teased that this would be a "very dire situation," in which people are "very poor" and "struggling to survive", which leads to a different kind of fear for Pennywise to feed upon.
"It’s fascinating because the thing that is so much fun in this stage of development is that we’re facing an era which is the Depression Era that changes dramatically the setup of things. There’s no suburban comfort — the trope of the kids that live in suburbia and they ride their bikes and suddenly one of them disappears is nothing like this.
This is in 1935. It’s a very dire situation. People are very poor. They’re struggling to survive, so the setup will be very different."
This 1935 era sets up Welcome to Derry as the earliest project on the current IT timeline, with IT set in 1988, IT: Chapter 2 in 2016, and Welcome to Derry Season 1 in 1962. However, flashbacks in Welcome to Derry featuring Bob Gray's origins have gone even further back in Pennywise's timeline, setting up where Season 3 will go.
Muschietti hinted that the major event in Season 3 of Welcome to Derry, which will take place in 1908, will be the Kitchener Iron Works explosion that killed dozens of children:
"There’s like three big events in 'Welcome to Derry', … and Season 3 would be the explosion of the Kitchener Iron Works, which is a big explosion during an Easter egg hunt where a hundred kids lost their lives. It’s always there f*cking around, so that much I can tell you.”
IT: Welcome to Derry is produced by the Muschiettis, with Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane serving as executive producers. Season 1 featured the return of Skarsgard as Pennywise, and also starred Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, James Remar, Chris Chalk, and Madeline Stowe. It premiered on HBO Max on October 26, 2025.
Welcome to Derry Season 2 Heads to the Depression Era
IT: Welcome to Derry's use of reverse chronological order offers a unique prospect for viewers, and there have already been several Easter eggs hinting at what Season 2 will look like.
A flashback sequence in Welcome to Derry Season 1, focusing on Ingrid Kersh's (Madeline Stowe) first meeting with Pennywise, featured a distinctive black-and-white color scheme for this era. It's unclear whether this was just used to differentiate time periods in Season 1, or whether Welcome to Derry plans to stick to a monochrome style throughout Season 2. Seeing as Season 2 is set in the Depression era, a more muted color scheme could enhance this aesthetic.
Aside from Skarsgard as Pennywise and possibly Stowe as Ingrid, there are no other confirmed returning characters for Welcome to Derry Season 2, meaning HBO has a fresh slate to cast new actors as original characters. The Bradley Gang members will be at the heart of the story, but it remains to be seen whether Welcome to Derry will recruit a new group of young actors to form a replacement Losers Club in this new era.
