It: Welcome to Derry is off to a robust begin for HBO Max, with the collection having simply grow to be the streamer’s third-best premiere. Created by Jason Fuchs, Andy Muschietti, and Barbara Muschietti, the Stephen King adaptation serves as a prequel to the 2 It motion pictures, launched in 2017 and 2019.
Each It motion pictures had been field workplace hits, and audiences are evidently nonetheless within the franchise, as Welcome to Derry simply garnered 5.7 million viewers throughout its first three days of availability, per Deadline. This determine, which incorporates each the HBO linear channel and HBO Max, makes it the third-most-watched collection premiere of all time for the streaming service.
The one exhibits to beat the brand new King adaptation are Home of the Dragon and The Final of Us, which premiered in 2022 and 2023, respectively. This spectacular premiere viewership comes after HBO confirmed that Welcome to Derry episode 2 will premiere early on the streamer for Halloween, touchdown at 3 a.m. ET on Friday, October 31.
Happening in 1962, Welcome to Derry chronicles the return of Pennywise the Clown as he torments the residents of Derry, Maine, simply as a pair and their son transfer into city. Invoice Skarsgård reprises his function because the killer clown from the movies, with different solid members together with Jovan Adepo, James Remar, Clara Stack, Matilda Lawler, Jack Molloy Legault, and Amanda Christine, amongst others.
The robust viewership for the collection accompanies a typically constructive reception from critics. The prequel has been praised for its surprising moments, unsettling ambiance, and its exploration of social themes. In his It: Welcome to Derry assessment for ScreenRant, Zach Moser awards the present seven out of 10, writing:
It’s not a novel story, and the uninspired directing and the occasional complicated leaps of logic and time could make centering your self troublesome. What IT: Welcome to Derry does supply is an unrelenting quantity of horror and carnage. Whereas none of it’s as shocking as Pennywise bursting out of the film display like he did in IT, the scares are finely crafted and purposeful. Horror followers will welcome a horror TV present keen to throw every little thing on the wall.
Welcome to Derry‘s robust preliminary viewership figures bodes nicely for a possible season 2. Nothing has been introduced simply but, nonetheless, and one other season will solely get the inexperienced gentle if the present continues its spectacular efficiency over the approaching weeks.
With a Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter rating of 80%, although, most viewers are clearly having fun with what the It prequel has to supply. This may very well be an indication that almost all viewers will proceed to tune in for the remaining seven episodes, which is able to finish with the finale on December 14.
The HBO Max collection arrives within the midst of a giant 12 months for King. Two main film diversifications within the type of The Monkey and The Lengthy Stroll have already been launched and located success, and Edgar Wright’s The Operating Man will hit theaters subsequent month.
It stays to be seen whether or not It: Welcome to Derry‘s robust efficiency will proceed over the subsequent seven weeks, however diversifications of the horror writer’s work are evidently nonetheless fashionable with common viewers.
Following this Friday’s early episode, new episodes of It: Welcome to Derry will launch on HBO Max and HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
- Launch Date
-
October 26, 2025
- Community
-
HBO
- Administrators
-
Andy Muschietti