HBO Max Series ‘Welcome to Derry’ Filming Schedule Officially Confirmed [Exclusive]

The complete filming schedule for “Welcome to Derry,” the prequel series to the horror movie "It" has been officially revealed. The HBO Max series began pre-production on Jan 30, 2023.

Welcome to Derry will begin filming on May 1, 2023, in Toronto and will take around eight months to officially wrap up on December 21, 2023. The first season of the series is expected to have 8-10 episodes. Welcome to Derry is likely to release sometime in 2024.

Set in the 1960s, Welcome to Derry follows four kids in a town bordering an Air Force base with a mysterious "Special Projects" bunker, who search for a friend of theirs who disappeared mysteriously. The story centers on the origin story of Pennywise the Clown from the hit horror movie duology, "It" and It: Part Two.  Based on the character created by Stephen King, Pennywise (It) is also the secondary antagonist of the Stephen King multiverse.

The origin of Pennywise is a secret, but as per the Dark Tower novels, it originated in an undiscovered void containing and surrounding our entire universe, another far-off universe referred to as the "Macroverse". Pennywise is a Glamour, a shape-shifting creature that has existed for billions of years. Because of its shape-shifting abilities and being from another universe, Its true name and species are also known as Deadlights, but few know this, which is why it's referred to as IT. A female spider appears to be in Its true physical form on Earth, living deep beneath the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Its real name is unknown. Although, several times in the novel, Pennywise calls itself by the name Robert “Bob” Gray. This may be an allusion to real-life child cannibal Albert Fish, who reportedly used the name "Robert Gray" as an alias.

It will be interesting to see if the show casts a shadow on the history of this creature as well. In the novels, Pennywise arrived on Earth in a massive cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, landing in a location in North America that would eventually become Derry, Maine.

Andy Muschietti, the director of the two films, is also directing the pilot episode. Both Andy and Jason Fuchs have developed the story along with Barbara Muschietti, with Fuchs writing the script of the series.

The complete cast of the series has been kept under wraps. Bill Skarsgård played the role of Pennywise perfectly in both the "It" films. It is yet to be revealed if he is coming back to this iconic role or not.

Andy Muschietti is executive producing the series along with Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs. Warner Bros. Television is the studio behind the series, with WB having produced the two hit movies.

"It" and "It: Part Two" collectively grossed over $1.1 billion at the global box office, with the second film taking place 27 years after the events of the first film with a new adult cast taking over from the kids in part one. “It” was previously adapted into a two-part miniseries in 1990 for ABC, featuring Tim Curry’s iconic performance as Pennywise.