Andy Muschietti, the director of the horror adaptation It (both chapters) and the terribly underrated Mama, is the showrunner of the upcoming Stephen King miniseries It: Welcome to Derry. Even though it’s edgy to say that it’s a Stephen King show (it’s not exactly based on one of his books), per Muschietti’s comments, we could be on the right track.
Muschietti, who’s also working as a producer and director of four of the series’ nine episodes, spoke to Radio TU about Welcome to Derry and expanded on which stories will be told in the series. The series takes place in 1962, 27 years before the events of Muschietti’s movie It (a variation from part one of the original story in the book, which takes place between 1957 and 1958), and it follows several residents of the town of Derry being terrorized by the evil entity that comes out every 27 years to feed itself.
While It: Welcome to Derry is clearly inspired by the source material and will even feature the return of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, it is not entirely based on King’s book. Well, at least the storylines, because, per Muschietti: “the series also focuses on the interludes that are being investigated by Mike Hanlon in the book.” He says that the show takes place in the middle of the Cold War and the nuclear panic:
“There’s fear of a nuclear crisis and problems associated with genetic and radioactive malformations. All the kids fear the atomic bomb, and It’s manifestations also have to do with that.”
How Involved Is Stephen King in ‘It: Welcome to Derry’?
The showrunner also commented on how involved Stephen King was during the production of the show. The writer usually works as an advisor on his adaptations, and he simply likes some better than others. He was heavily involved in It, even having a cameo in It: Chapter Two. Muschietti confirmed he was also a part of the creative process for It: Welcome to Derry:
“Stephen King has to approve everything. But it was really informal this time. I’ve had a close relationship with Stephen King since I made the movies. He writes to me, and I write him back. It’s an honor for me, and I consider him a friend.
One day, I wrote to him and said, ‘We have this idea, which is to develop the interludes in a miniseries that will take place before the events of the movie,’ and he loved it. He said, ‘Let’s do it!’
Obviously, as we progressed, we kept showing him the work, and he approved the first draft of the script. Then we showed him where we would take the future seasons of the show. He trusts us because of what we did with the movies, which he loved as much as audiences did.”
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Muschietti also teased the idea of King having a cameo, and while he said the writer won’t show up, his character from It: Chapter Two will. It will just be a younger version of the salesman at the second-hand store. Meanwhile, the director also said HBO is “pretty happy with Season 1 of the show, and they want Season 2 to start shooting right away.”
- Release Date
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2025-00-00
- Main Genre
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Horror
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
