IT: Welcome to Derry – Season One Review (Spoilers)
IT: Welcome to Derry was one of my most anticipated shows the moment it was announced. HBO has delivered so many of my favorite television experiences over the years, and in many ways, they helped define the cinematic, prestige-TV era we now take for granted. Their shows are rich, edgy, character-driven, and often willing to take big creative swings—and that pedigree alone had me excited.
Add to that my love for Andy Muschietti’s IT films and Bill Skarsgård’s brilliant portrayal of Pennywise, and this series already felt like it was set up to hit all the right notes. The idea of diving deeper into the origins of Derry, Pennywise, and the mythology surrounding IT was incredibly appealing.
What Welcome to Derry delivers is both expected and surprising. As promised, the show doesn’t just expand the IT mythos—it weaves in overlapping characters, ideas, and connective tissue from other Stephen King stories and adaptations. I’ll be upfront: I’m not a big reader. I’ve never worked my way through King’s massive library of novels, even though I deeply respect it. I’ve read a couple of his books, but my relationship with his work has largely come through film and television, many of which I’ve watched countless times.
Because of that, I know I’m not catching every Easter egg or crossover—but the ones I did catch really worked for me. They felt purposeful rather than indulgent. King’s signature approach has always resonated with me: deeply human characters, sudden and shocking tragedy, emotional vulnerability, and the unsettling way horror intersects with everyday life. His stories feel grounded and relatable right up until they spiral into something completely bonkers—and Welcome to Derry embraces that duality fully.
And that’s where my only real criticism comes in.
There is so much happening in this series. So many characters. So much lore. So much tragedy, insanity, and mythology layered on top of each other that, at times, I found myself feeling emotionally numb. What I’ve always loved most about King’s stories is how they often lull you into a sense of normalcy—into beauty and familiarity—so that when the horror hits, it lands with devastating impact. Here, the intensity rarely lets up.
To be clear, this isn’t a complaint about quality. I loved the characters. The performances are excellent. The writing, cinematography, effects, and production design are all top-tier. Everything is firing on a technical and creative level. But the sheer volume of story and trauma made it harder for me to fully connect or sit with any one character’s journey before being pulled into the next escalation.
That said, this may simply be the reality of building a central narrative hub for something as massive as the Stephen King universe—especially when you’re threading connections to stories as iconic and tonally different as The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, The Dark Tower, and Needful Things. Balancing all of that without slowing momentum is a nearly impossible task.
Despite that critique, I genuinely loved IT: Welcome to Derry. HBO once again delivered something bold, ambitious, and meticulously crafted. Even when it overwhelmed me, it never bored me. And if this first season was about laying the groundwork and opening the floodgates, I’m excited to see where things go now that the table has been set.
I can’t wait to return to Derry for season two.
