‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Everything Confirmed So Far, From the 1935 Setting to Release Timing

HBO’s Stephen King prequel series is officially moving forward, and fans finally have concrete details to work with. ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ has been renewed for a second season, and the announcement comes with a significant creative shift that changes both the setting and the people steering the show.

The renewal follows a strong debut for the horror drama, and the network has now confirmed the broad strokes of where the story goes next, even as key specifics remain under wraps.

‘Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Release Date

Production on the new season is expected to begin in late 2026, with a premiere targeted for 2027 or 2028, though no exact premiere date has been announced. An unverified report from an X user has suggested a 2027 launch, though HBO has not made that official.

HBO had not announced a release date for the new season as of the renewal, since the show is likely still months, or even a year, away from entering production. The Hollywood Reporter has indicated that the creative team had to rewrite the season from scratch as the story was reworked, which explains the delay.

That creative overhaul reportedly took around nine months, driven largely by the need to build an entirely new story in a new historical period with a new cast. For context, the first season premiered on HBO and HBO Max on October 26, 2025.

‘Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Plot and 1935 Setting

The official logline confirms that season two takes place in 1935 during the Great Depression and centers on the bloody massacre of the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammunition and end up facing unimaginable horror. That places the new season 27 years further into the town’s past than the first outing.

Andy Muschietti has said the 1935 setting will allow the series to address the social and cultural realities of the era rather than simply using the period as a backdrop for supernatural horror. He has described the Depression as a time when people were struggling to survive, and those circumstances will significantly shape the characters and their choices.

Speaking to Variety, Muschietti explained there’s going to be a lot of depression era hustling in the air among the characters, with everybody trying to get by and survive the circumstances, and said the social and cultural hardships of the era won’t be skipped over, calling them the very center and heart of the story. He also confirmed that the bloodline connections between characters introduced in season one will continue, as a family tree of sorts appears across the timeline.

According to HBO, the first season ranked among the four strongest global debuts in HBO Max history, which factored into the network’s decision to keep expanding the world built around ‘It’ and ‘It: Chapter Two.’ Separately, it’s been reported that season one had the third most watched premiere in HBO history, trailing only ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘The Last of Us.’

‘Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Cast Changes

Because the story is jumping nearly three decades earlier, most of season one’s cast would not have been alive yet, making it unlikely that those actors return. The first season’s ensemble included Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, and Rudy Mancuso.

Bill Skarsgård’s return as Pennywise has not been officially confirmed as part of the season two announcement, even though the renewal statement promises to dig deeper into the character’s legend. Reporting has still described it as very likely that Skarsgård would reprise the role, with the rest of the cast expected to be newcomers taking on entirely new parts given the new storyline.

While no season two casting has been confirmed, there is speculation that the show could revisit characters like Lily’s mother Terri, a younger version of Ingrid Kersch, and possibly a younger Rose, given the family tree threads Muschietti has referenced. Tyner Rushing, who played the 1935 version of Ingrid Kirsh in a season one flashback, will likely return in that same role.

‘Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Creative Team and Showrunner Change

The renewal comes with a behind the scenes shakeup, as Brad Caleb Kane and Jason Fuchs served as co-showrunners for season one, but Fuchs is stepping down, leaving Kane as the sole showrunner. Andy and Barbara Muschietti continue to develop the season and serve as executive producers under their Double Dream production banner, joined by Kane, Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jamie Travis, and Dhana Gilbert.

The showrunner transition from Fuchs to Kane added a further layer of complexity to a franchise that requires each season to restart its story from scratch in a new historical period, with a new cast and a new set of sociological demands. Before the first season even released, the Muschiettis had already outlined plans for a three season arc that would move backward through different cycles of Pennywise’s terror in Derry.

In a joint statement following the renewal, the Muschiettis said continuing to explore and expand on the world Stephen King created is an absolute privilege, and credited the support of their partners at HBO and Warner Bros. Television as invaluable. Season one remains available to stream on HBO Max, and it’s also been released in a 4K UHD physical edition.

With the Bradley Gang massacre now confirmed as the backbone of the next chapter and a mostly new cast on the way, how do you think a Depression era Derry will change the way Pennywise’s cycle of terror plays out on screen.