HBO Max released an unexpected standalone episode of its horror series “It: Welcome to Derry” on Saturday, delivering an unannounced Halloween installment to fans of the Stephen King franchise.
Titled “A Story of Derry,” the 30-minute special transports viewers centuries into the past, well prior to the primary timeline of the television drama and the introduction of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Variety reported. The streaming platform shared a preview clip on Instagram announcing the release as a holiday surprise exploring the origins of the malevolent entity.
Uncovering the entity’s ancient origins
According to an official logline reported by Deadline, the special follows three youngsters who venture into the Western Wood hundreds of years before Pennywise arrives, encountering a frightening ancient presence. The footage published by HBO Max featured a Native American girl sprinting across the forest while carrying a bow and arrow.
The narrative expands on the mythology established during the show’s freshman run, focusing on three teenage Native American girls whose clash with the entity leads to the creation of the 13 sacred pillars that encircle Derry to hold the monster captive, TVLine reported. During the first season, one of those barriers was disturbed before being restored.
The release represents the second consecutive year the network offered an unexpected holiday rollout for the franchise. On Halloween in 2025, the platform released the second episode of the debut season two days ahead of its scheduled broadcast date, TVLine noted.
Looking ahead to Season 2
The surprise chapter comes after HBO renewed the horror program for a second season in August. The drama, produced by Warner Bros. Television, stands among the top four series debuts globally in HBO Max history, TheWrap reported.
Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane told Deadline earlier this month that writers are roughly halfway through drafting scripts for the sophomore run, with co-creator Andy Muschietti handling casting. Kane indicated that the upcoming season is targeting an arrival in late 2027 or 2028 and will introduce a portrayal of Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise unlike anything seen before.
While the debut season unfolded in 1962, the next chapter will shift backward to 1935 during the Great Depression. The storyline will chronicle the massacre of the Bradley Gang, an infamous group of bank robbers who visit Derry for ammunition before encountering terrifying violence, an event drawn directly from King’s 1986 novel.
“In this case, on the surface, Derry is a graveyard almost. It’s a carcass of something because people are depleted, poor, tired, jobless, homeless,” Muschietti told Variety regarding the upcoming historical setting. “The kids don’t have a suburban, comforting life. They’re in a very different situation.”
Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti serve as executive producers alongside Kane, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jamie Travis and Dhana Gilbert, with Kane taking over as sole showrunner for the upcoming season, according to TheWrap.
