‘IT: Welcome To Derry’ Review – An Underwhelming Start Is Hard To Overcome

After two successful runs at the box office, the reboot of Stephen King’s It is coming to the small screen on HBO with IT: Welcome to Derry. The duo that brought the reboots to life, Andy and Barbara Muschietti, team with Jason Fuchs to deliver a prequel series that leads up to the events of the first film. Jovan Adepo and Taylour Paige make their debut in this universe, with Bill Skarsgard reprising his role of Pennywise.

The series begins with us meeting Fidler, who sneaks into the theater to watch a movie. However, after being caught, we see him run out of the theater, and he hitches a ride with some strangers, asking them to take him anywhere but Derry. As the ride continues, things get weird with the wife giving birth to this demon-like creature that starts to wreak havoc in the car. It all comes to an end with the pacifier heading into the sewer, to which the series fast-forwards four months. 

As someone who wasn’t a huge fan of the reboot in 2017 and thought the ending of It: Chapter Two ruined a great overall film, I had middle-of-the-road expectations for this. That said, fresh off the strong FX prequel series Alien: Earth, I was hoping that this would fall in line with being on the good side. Only five episodes were made available for screening ahead of the show’s release, and I am very much in the middle. 

The week-to-week release will be interesting because the first two episodes are extremely slow. I won’t divulge much into what happened (spoilers), but there is plenty to unpack throughout the early parts of the episodes that slowly start to come together over the course of the next three episodes. This is a series where you have to pay attention. 

IT: Welcome to Derry suffers from one big miscue, and that is the story structure. Although I don’t mind series bouncing back and forth timeline-wise, the Muschiettis don’t establish these well enough for you to follow along. Furthermore, there is a glaring part of the series missing from the early stages that is going to have audiences extremely upset. 

For the positives, I did like the development of the characters Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann. The duo is portrayed by Jovan Adepo and Chris Chalk. With Chalk, he has several vital moments of selling the atmospheric nature of what is transpiring, and his ability to sell it was what made things interesting. Adepo, who was brilliant in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, showcases his acting chops as the lead in the series. His storyline (and performances) is one of the biggest reasons why I was invested in this often jumbled mess of a script. I can only hope that his arc pays off after an incredible first five episodes. 

The makeup, cinematography, and opening title sequence are remarkable. First, the song in the opening title sequence is a nice little catchy jingle that is stuck in my head. Next, early on, while the story might’ve been underwhelming, the makeup and VFX team deserve all the praise for the creepy and disgusting visuals. Finally, cinematographer Rasmus Heise shot this with pure magic. Like any horror project, the balancing of the color palette is all over the place, and Heise captures it beautifully. 

Is IT: Welcome to Derry Worth Watching?

Based on the first five episodes, it is really challenging to recommend checking out It: Welcome to Derry. I really struggle with the underwhelming start and the wonky back-and-forth storytelling. If you are a fan of this franchise and will watch no matter what, I urge you to be patient (or binge it after the week-to-week airing). Jovan Adepo and the brilliant costumes and makeup ultimately can’t make up for the undercooked script that left me wanting more. 

IT: Welcome to Derry will debut Sunday, October 26 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. New episodes of the eight-episode season will debut weekly leading up to the season finale on Sunday, December 14.