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Will There Be a Season 2 of It: Welcome to Derry?
Short answer: not yet confirmed, but if you ask any horror fan, the answer might as well be inevitable. HBO hasn’t officially announced a renewal for It: Welcome to Derry, the unsettling prequel series set in Stephen King’s infamously cursed town.
Still, all signs point to Pennywise not being done with us just yet. Why the optimism? For one, the show debuted as HBO Max’s third most-watched launch ever, trailing only behind House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.
That’s elite company. Even if viewership cooled off a bit later in the season, word-of-mouth has stayed strong, with fans dissecting clues and hidden references to King’s wider universe across Reddit threads like investigators of Derry’s darkest corners.
On top of that, creator Andy Muschietti, who directed the It films, has mapped out a three-season narrative arc that traces Pennywise’s 27-year cycles of terror.
So while HBO remains silent for now (thanks to corporate shakeups at Warner Bros. Discovery), Muschietti’s writers’ room reportedly began early work on Season 2 scripts back in mid-2025. In other words, the lights in Derry aren’t going out just yet; they’re just flickering ominously.
If all goes according to plan, and production kicks off in early 2026, a second season could arrive sometime in late 2027, maybe just in time for another blood-soaked Halloween. Then again, this is HBO. They don’t rush nightmares; they nurture them slowly, like something lurking under the bed.
What is the Plot of It: Welcome to Derry Season 2?
Season 2 will rewind the clock once again, this time to 1935, the cycle before the events of Season 1. Think of it as peeling another grimy layer off Derry’s history.
Andy Muschietti and co-writer Jason Fuchs have confirmed that each season digs deeper, further back into the town’s rot, trying to answer the questions that kept fans awake after Season 1: What exactly is It? And why is this cosmic predator obsessed with Derry?
In the timeline, that means we’ll get to witness The Bradley Gang Massacre, one of the infamous events referenced in Stephen King’s original novel.
We actually caught a glimpse of it, that car full of skeletons, back in Episode 2. Expect that gruesome mystery to get much more screen time in Season 2, alongside a deeper dive into the eerie Juniper Hill asylum and Ingrid Kersh’s desperate search for her father, Bob Gray (aka Pennywise’s original human form).
Season 1 toyed with the idea that Pennywise might not just be a creature, but also a curse, an infection that passes between human and supernatural form. That creepy “time loop” twist in the finale all but guaranteed we’ll see more of how it first arrived on Earth.
If Muschietti sticks to his plan, Season 2 could also play more with themes of fear and moral decay during the Great Depression era, imagine it feeding on hopelessness the way it once fed on children’s screams. Derry in 1935 wasn’t a cheerful place. And that’s perfect soil for a monster like Pennywise to thrive.
Who Will Return to the Cast of It: Welcome to Derry Season 2?
The only name we can lock in right now is Bill Skarsgård. You can’t make it without him. Literally, Skarsgård has owned this role since 2017, turning Pennywise into a figure equal parts terrifying and tragically fascinating. Rumor has it, he’ll pull double duty again as both the monster and his haunting human alias, Bob Gray.
Beyond that, expect a whole new cast. Since the story moves decades earlier, the 1960s characters we met in Season 1, Marge, Richie, and the Hanlons, probably won’t appear. That’s bittersweet, honestly.
Their chemistry gave the show real emotional weight amid all the nightmare fuel. But the upside is creative freedom: new stories, fresh faces, and even weirder nightmares.
A few possible Season 2 returns could include:
- Tyner Rushing as the younger version of Ingrid Kersh, offering continuity between seasons.
- Kimberly Guerrero’s “Rose”, whose brief but powerful scenes hinted at deeper connections to Derry’s ancient evil.
The rumor mill suggests the new ensemble may explore multiple generations of Derry residents, perhaps ancestors of familiar figures from King’s It. Maybe we’ll even glimpse an earlier Hanlon or Denbrough family member, unknowingly living in the shadow of the same monster that will one day haunt their kids. Creepy symmetry, right?
Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is based on publicly available sources, interviews, reports, and industry speculation as of the time of writing. HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery have not officially confirmed a second season of It: Welcome to Derry, and any details regarding renewal status, plot direction, cast, or release timelines are subject to change. References to future seasons, storylines, or production plans reflect creative discussions and unofficial reports, not formal announcements. This content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be interpreted as an official confirmation from the network or creators.
