Highly Anticipated Stephen King Prequel Series Just Found Its Showrunners
Welcome to Derry, the prequel series to Stephen King's It, has found its showrunners.
Variety is reporting that Welcome to Derry, the prequel series to Stephen King’s It, has found it’s showrunners. Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane will serve as co-showrunners on the series from producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti. Stephen King’s Welcome to Derry was first reported as being in development in March for HBO Max.
Exact plot details remain under wraps, aside from the fact that the show will be set in Derry, Maine, one of Stephen King’s oft-used fictional towns, and will serve as a prequel to the recent films It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two, which were directed by Andy Muschietti and released in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The films were based on the 1986 novel which is widely viewed as one of Stephen King’s masterpieces.
Jason Fuchs is primarily known for his work in features, having worked on the screenplays or stories for films including Wonder Woman, Pan, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and I Still See You. Brad Caleb Kane’s recent writing credits include HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice, as well as multiple episodes of shows including Warrior, Black Sails and Fringe. Fuchs was a co-producer on It: Chapter Two. Fuchs and Kane will executive produce along with the Muschiettis, with Andy being eyed to direct Stephen King’s Welcome to Derry series premiere.
While not much is known about the plans for the plot of Welcome to Derry, the original novel It by Stephen King has a built-in mythology that Pennywise the Clown is a manifestation of an unspeakably ancient extra-dimensional creature that crash-landed into where the town of Derry, Maine would someday be, and has been both preying on children every 27 years and subtly influencing the entire town towards evil for generations. As such, it’s pretty much perfect for a prequel series, especially as part of the story is The Losers Club actually researching the prior appearances of Pennywise throughout the years, and there’s certainly no lack of source material to be mined from Stephen King’s assembled works.
Welcome to Derry joins a recent string of Stephen King adaptations to be released: the remake of Firestarter, the miniseries Chapelwaite (based on the King short story “Jerusalem’s Lot”), The Boogeyman (based on the short story of the same title), Castle Rock (set in another of King’s fictional Maine towns), and the remake of The Stand. Unfortunately for fans, the Mike Flanagan-produced remake of Salem’s Lot has had it’s release date shelved by Warner Brothers, and it is unsure whether or not it will see the light of day. Additionally, the Stephen King crime novel Billy Summers is being adapted for film by JJ Abrams.
The two It films, directed by Andy Muschietti and produced by Barbara Muschietti, collectively grossed over $1.1 billion at the global box office upon their release, with the second film taking place 27 years after the events of the first, with a new adult cast taking over from the kids in Chapter One. It was previously adapted into a two-part miniseries for ABC back in 1990, featuring Tim Curry’s iconic performance as Pennywise the Clown.
