A prequel to the two Stephen King-based IT movies from Andy Muschietti, Max’s upcoming series “Welcome to Derry” will feature the return of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown, but when can you expect to start streaming? Max is eyeing a 2025 premiere.
HBO’s Casey Bloys tells Variety this week, “One of the advantages that I think we have as a company, putting aside HBO for a second, is all the Warner Bros. IP. So after House of the Dragon, the next big tentpole series that we have coming up will be the Penguin with Colin Farrell. That is coming out of Matt Reeves’ The Batman and it’s fantastic. Just like Peacemaker came out of James Gunn’s Suicide Squad, it’s a really good example of what you can do. That’ll be in September.”
“And then after that, I don’t know if we landed on a date yet, but later in the fall we’ll have the Dune prequel series that is about the origins of the Bene Gesserit. And then going into ’25, we will have Stephen King’s It,” Bloys continues. “Warner Bros. has done two films — we’ve got a prequel series of that planned as well. And then obviously, the Harry Potter series, further down the line. We’re still in the process of working with writers on their takes.”
Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs are on board the Pennywise prequel project from Warner Bros. Television, with Muschietti set to direct several episodes.
Taylour Paige (Zola), Jovan Adepo (“Watchmen”), Chris Chalk (“Perry Mason”), James Remar (Oppenheimer), Madeleine Stowe (Revenge) and Stephen Rider (Daredevil) star.
“The series will begin in the 1960s in the time leading up to the events of It: Part One, the 2017 film based on the Stephen King horror novel. The story is also said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.”
Published in 1986, Stephen King’s massive novel was of course first turned into a mini-series in 1990, with Tim Curry playing the role later played by Bill Skarsgård in the movies.
The tale centers on the town of Derry, Maine, where a group of friends called the Losers’ Club battle Pennywise the killer clown first as kids, and then 27 years later as adults.
