With a series of Rockwell-esque, deceptively chipper images interrupted by subterranean nightmares, It is a satirical exploration of America’s assimilationist 1950s into the tumult of the 1960s.
However, unlike Muschietti’s film adaptations, the TV show seems almost resolutely unwilling to play with dread or tension. And while Paige, Adepo, and Stack give strong performances, their characters feel shallowly written.
Plot
The Losers Club may have vanquished Pennywise once and for all in the 2019 film It: Chapter Two, but the show’s prequel series is already setting things up for another terrifying rematch. Directed by Andy Muschietti, the team behind the 2017 and 2021 IT films (and their two-part book adaptation), It: Welcome to Derry sets up an entirely new timeline in the same town where The Losers Club first encountered the dreadful dancing clown.
The show takes us to 1962, where a group of newcomers (including decorated pilot Leroy Hanlon) and lifelong residents face unexplained phenomena in the town of Derry, Maine. The show has a strong, driving aesthetic that calls to mind Twin Peaks, which also imagined powerful forces at work under natural beauty.
It’s a masterfully woven and terrifying story that blends history, the supernatural, racism, and intense fear, and it offers a fresh spin on psychological horror. Fans of the books and movies should love it, but the show’s pacing and characters are just as compelling to newcomers. Despite a few stumbles, It: Welcome to Derry is an exciting and terrifying addition to the Stephen King Expanded Universe.
Main Characters
While the series features many new characters, it also includes some familiar ones from Stephen King’s books. Leroy Hanlon is a military commander who recently moved to Derry with his family and quickly notices that sinister forces lurk beneath the surface of this quaint town. This character is a direct link to Mike Hanlon, one of the main members of the Losers Club in the original novel and its two movies.
The young cast of IT Welcome Terry is excellent, especially Clara Stack as Lilly. Her portrayal of a girl traumatized by her father’s death and seeking to help others through their own troubles is effective. She befriends Matty, played by Mikkal Karim Fidler, and Phil, a geeky comic book loving storyteller.
Jovan Adepo, who has appeared in Fences, Watchmen, and The Leftovers, gives a noteworthy performance as Major Leroy Hanlon. His characterization is layered and reveals vulnerability alongside resilience. Bill Skarsgard, who portrayed Pennywise in the IT movies, also returns as the clown. He is a natural in this role and delivers impressive performances throughout the series.
Atmosphere
When you think of a TV show about a shambling supernatural force devouring small-town America, you might think of classic horror works like IT and The Shining. But those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to shows rooted in Stephen King’s literary universe. There are also a plethora of high-profile TV adaptations like Twin Peaks and Stranger Things that imagine powerful, impossible forces at work beneath the pristine surface of suburban America.
That’s a big part of what makes King’s tales of small-town horror so compelling, and it’s something the team behind this new series fails to grasp. While the series does have a few moments of real suspense and some truly gruesome set pieces, it’s too often stuck in first gear. Even when the series features strong character work from the likes of Paige, Adepo, and Stack and an excellent performance by Chris Chalk as airman Dick Hallorann, it all feels flat and shallow. The series struggles to play with dread and atmosphere, and it’s too afraid to confront its own thematic baggage.
Direction
The younger cast of the show—from Clara Stack’s Lilly to Taylour Paige’s Rachel and Jovan Adepo’s Leeroy—are excellent, with each character bringing personality, depth and a sense of dread that helps elevate the series above standard fare. It can’t replace Stranger Things’ chemistry, but it is still entertaining to watch the kids take on Pennywise—and succeed in their first encounter with him.
The show also does well to raise the stakes beyond Muschietti’s duology, tackling racism and bigotry on both micro and macro levels of a racially divided America. It’s an interesting and timely shift from the sanitized world of the films to this deeper exploration of a societal ill that feels relevant now more than ever.
The series also cranks up the violence, with moments that are more disturbing than anything in either of the It movies. The body horror in the premiere alone is enough to make a seasoned horror buff squirm. This is the kind of horror that deserves a place alongside classics like It and The Shining. It’s precision-tooled prestige horror.
Emotional Tone
After the astronomical box office success of the movies, the series It: Welcome to Derry offers a fresh spin on psychological horror. While it doesn’t rely on the kid characters as much as Muschietti’s adaptations, the show is still at its best when the kids are in danger, and its first episode delivers.
The series also benefits from its excellent young cast. Clara Stack is a standout as Lilly, whose traumatic loss is compounded by her time at Juniper Hill. She and her fellow students seem to be a different breed from the Losers Club, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The show’s depictions of fright and panic are effective, and Chalk’s Hallorann is no exception.
The series also features nods to other Stephen King works, including a homage to The Shining. It also incorporates some of the most disturbing scenes in modern television, with a body-horror sequence that’s more disturbing than anything from either of the It films.