SPOILER WARNING
On Sunday, Oct. 26, the pilot episode of HBO’s new series, “It: Welcome to Derry”(2025), aired and has already met with critical acclaim for its approach to telling a story that prequels the events of Andy Muschietti’s “It” (2017) and “It: Chapter Two”(2019).
“It: Welcome to Derry” takes place in 1962, 27 years before the events of the original 2017 film. On the surface, Derry, Maine, is seemingly just a small town with no reason for outsiders to be scared of what happens in it.
The episode opens with a little boy named Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt) being chased out of a movie theater by an usher. He is later then picked up by a family and asks them to take him anywhere but Derry.
During their trip, Matty comes to the realization that the family does not have the best intentions for him. As he tries to escape the moving vehicle, the mother gives birth to a monster mutant-baby that attacks and kills him.
Four months later, the only few people that knew Matty, Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) and Teddy Uris (Mikkal Karim-Fidler) are still concerned about his body still not being found by authorities.
Meanwhile, Commander Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) and his partner and friend Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso) arrive at a military base near Derry. Due to him being black, Leroy is met with racism by one of his peers.
Later on as the episode progresses, both the kids and Leroy and Pauly experience some puzzling events, including what appear to be living nightmares for the former and a group of men ambushing him for the latter.
The episode ends with both groups completely unaware of what is happening in Derry. The children are met with more horror, whereas Leroy and Pauly are more confused, if anything.
As a director, Muschietti does a good job capturing the ideal small-town setting that early sixties Americana is known for. From the outside looking in, Derry appears to be the happiest place for someone or a family to settle down and have a simple, quiet and peaceful life.
However, what lives beneath Derry, in the depths of the sewage system, is a type of evil unlike anything a group of young children has dealt with. Though he has not been revealed yet, Bill Skarsgård*’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown’s presence is definitely felt.
Likewise to the 2017 version, the choice of actors to portray the child characters is extremely well done. They actually feel like authentic children and not far-elder people, trying to act and look younger than they are.
The show well-executes smaller details in the writing, truly masterfully done by the writing team, like adding the characters Leroy and Charlotte to the show. For those who do not know, one of the main characters of the Loser’s Club in the 2017 films is Mike Hanlon; Leroy and Charlotte are his grandparents.
For Leroy and Charlotte to be his relatives adds more depth to the story and worldbuilding. It makes it feel like there’s an actual history in Derry with the people who live there and the events that occurred.
For a pilot, “It: Welcome to Derry” for sure accomplished the task of having an excellent cliffhanger for its second episode. The characters will not be prepared for when they come face-to-face with Pennywise himself.
