HBO has announced ten new cast members for the IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, Comicbook.com reports. The series, based on the books written by Stephen King (Creepshow, Kingdom Hospital, The Woman in the Room), will once again feature Bill Skarsgård (Barbarian, Soulmates, Eternals) as the fearful clown Pennywise. There are no specific details for the other characters’ roles yet.
According to Comicbook.com, the news was first released yesterday by Deadline. The new actors will include Alixandra Fuchs (Hatfields & McCoys, Boogeyman Pop), Kimberly Guerrero (The English, Reservation Dogs, Longmire), Dorian Grey (Star Trek: Discovery, Transplant), Thomas Mitchell (Spiral, Culprits, Locke & Key), BJ Harrison (Family Law, Dead Boy Detectives, Wild Cards), Peter Outerbridge (Batwoman, Sullivan’s Crossing, In The Dark), Shane Marriott (Fargo, Law And Order Toronto: Criminal Intent), Chad Rook (Billy the Kid, Timeless, Joe Pickett), Joshua Odjick (Little Bird, Wildhood, The Swarm) and Morningstar Angeline (Echo, Outer Range, Westworld).
The new actors, according to Comicbook.com, will join the already announced Jovan Adepo (Babylon, Three Body Problem, Sorry For Your Loss), Taylour Paige (Hit The Floor, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Sharp Stick) Chris Chalk (Perry Mason, Our Deadly Vows, Lila & Eve), Stephen Rider (Becoming, Event 15, The After Party) and James Remar (Dexter, Sex and the City, Oppenheimer).
This news has been released after this week’s announcement from Warner Bros. Discovery, according to Comicbook.com, in which the company shared that they will rebrand Welcome to Derry, DC’s Lanterns and other projects from Max Originals to HBO Originals. Because of this change, they will be moved to HBO.
According to Comicbook.com, Skarsgård will not only reprise his previous role from the movies but will also become one of the producers for Welcome to Derry, alongside Barbara Muschietti (Locke & Key, The Flash, The Electric State), Jason Fuchs (Argylle, Flipper, Pan), Roy Lee (The Ring, The Grudge, The Lake House) and Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes, The Lego Movie, The Box). The new series has been developed for television by Andy (Mama, Twisting The Aces) and Barbara Muschietti, Skarsgård and Fuchs. Andy Muschietti , was the one that directed the two IT movies, so he will do the same now with four out of nine episodes of the series, and be a producer.
Welcome to Derry, according to Comicbook.com, will focus on the characters’stories decades before the events unfolded in the four IT movies, the location always being the fictional town of Derry, Maine. In King’s books and the original TV adaptation, the events in this new series will be in the late ’50s. Instead, in the movies, this timeline was changed to the events unfolding in the ’80s. Welcome to Derry will be an extension of the movie’s timeline, taking place in the ’50s, as the kids explore the horrific events unfolding in their town, meeting Pennywise again in the sewers of Derry.
There is no official release date for this series yet, but it’s expected to be available to stream on HBO and Max in 2025.