'Welcome to Derry' Is Part of the 'It' Franchise — But Was It a Book First?

There have been multiple movies in the It franchise that came after the It miniseries of 1990. But when it comes to It: Welcome to Derry, the HBO series, is it based on a book like its predecessors? The 1990 miniseries and 2017 movie It feature the story taken from the Stephen King novel of the same name, though the 2017 movie was split into two parts. The 2019 sequel movie is the continuation of It and is also based on the book, though it's the second half of the novel.

Welcome to Derry follows a story unlike the one in the original miniseries and the movies. In those versions, viewers meet the Losers, a group of kids who encountered Pennywise as kids and grow up to face him again. The HBO series takes place 27 years before the events of the original story in It and also features different characters altogether. Except, of course, for Pennywise himself.

Unlike It in all of its forms, Welcome to Derry is not based on a book. In fact, King never wrote any other books in the world of Pennywise after he penned It. Instead, Welcome to Derry provides a new story that takes place before the original one that horror fans already know pretty well. It isn't exactly an origin story, but it does show Pennywise and the residents of Derry decades before the Losers meet the shapeshifting clown.

In 2022, well before Welcome to Derry premiered on HBO, King spoke about his relationship with It, or lack thereof, on Bloody Disgusting's The Losers' Club Podcast. He said at the time that he was not part of the series, but that he thought the idea of a prequel would be "an interesting possibility."

King said on the podcast that he did not intend to revisit It. Since there is little hope for a sequel or prequel novel, Welcome to Derry remains its own creation with no basis on the It novel, except for its setting and Pennywise. However, the series does have a similar vibe to it as the It movies and miniseries, since there is another group of kids being hunted by Pennywise.

In the lore of Pennywise, he comes out every 27 years to feed on and torment people in Derry. Then, he goes back to sleep, or in hibernation in some way, for another 27 years. The 2017 It movie takes place in 1988, before the kids grow up. Welcome to Derry takes place 27 years before that, in 1961 and early 1962.

It's unlikely that the series will move in time to 27 years after the events of the show. That would take viewers to the original storyline in the first It movie. So, unless there is some plan to recreate the Loser Club once again for the show, it looks like Welcome to Derry will stay firmly in the '60s, so viewers can watch Pennywise target kids from another era.

Watch Welcome to Derry on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.