Next weekend sees the launch of “IT: Welcome to Derry,” the TV series prequel to the two “IT” films with the action taking place in 1962, the previous ‘cycle’ of Pennywise the Clown prior to his meeting the Losers Club.
Bill Skarsgard is reprising the role of Pennywise for the series, but the trailers for the show have kept him mostly under wraps – and with good reason.
It turns out the character will only have relatively limited screen time in the series, with almost all of it being held back until the latter episodes of the season – the idea being akin to the reveal of the shark in “Jaws” in wanting to build anticipation:
Jason Fuchs, who serves as a co-creator on the series, tells EW: “It is a shapeshifting creature, and in the movies there’s only so much space to see those non-Pennywise manifestations”. The series however will offer more chances for other non-Pennywise horrors.
The series will also only lightly touch upon the other supernatural mythology of the story, such as the ancient godlike entity Maturin (the turtle). Andy Muschietti, who helmed the “IT” films and multiple episodes of this series, says:
“There’s a handover to a second season and a third season that will explore more of the other side because it’s really connected to the origin of It and the reasons why It is on this plane of existence. The idea, on the longer arc of the series, is to open the door to that bigger, wider mythology to see the iceberg under the water and everything that is not perceivable by humans. I can’t tell you too much about seasons 2 and 3, but we are gonna see more of the mythology and the world that is behind the veil.”
Muschietti adds that: “If people are watching to be terrified, they will be terrified from the get-go.”
