IT Prequel Welcome to Derry Features a Big Connection to The Shining and Very Graphic Imagery | SDCC 2025

IT: Welcome to Derry had an unusually precocious commencement clip for a San Diego Comic-Con sheet Saturday night, not starting until 9:15pm, but the preview those of america successful attendance got of the show’s archetypal 10 minutes rapidly made it wide wherefore this was footage you’d privation to marque definite small kids didn’t see. In the consequent Q&A, producers revealed a batch of caller info astir the HBO Max prequel bid to 2017’s IT and 2019’s IT: Chapter Two, including a large quality crossover with different Stephen King classic, The Shining.

In the footage shown, we travel a young lad successful 1962 Derry who gets successful occupation for misbehaving astatine a movie theatre – thing that seems to beryllium a communal occurrence – and then, aft moving from an aggravated usher, wanders down the roadworthy connected a dark, snowy night. It’s wide this kid has immoderate issues, with his look appearing bruised, and with him often sucking connected a pacifier, contempt the information that helium looks to beryllium astir 10 years old.

A car pulls implicit with a household inside, including a ma and dad, their teenage daughter, and her younger brother. They connection the lad a thrust to Portland, Maine erstwhile helium says helium wants to permission Derry, but things rapidly get precise unusual successful the car, arsenic the girl opens up a instrumentality marked “Liver” and dips her fingers successful humor and past holds her fingers up to the lad arsenic though she wants him to odor them.

Things get overmuch worse arsenic the lad notices they are someway driving backmost into Derry, adjacent arsenic the household begins to disregard his cries to halt the car and fto him out, acting much and much deranged. When helium screams helium wants out, they mock him by chanting “O-U-T!” implicit and over, causing him to panic and drawback the steering instrumentality from the dad, causing a commotion that results successful them hitting the ma successful her precise large stomach… astatine which constituent she goes into labor, which is erstwhile she pulls up her formal and things abruptly get very graphic.

Beneath her underwear, we spot thing is coming retired of her, but it doesn’t look typically baby-shaped… and past the underwear is pulled distant wholly and we get an unobstructed presumption of this misshapen happening really being birthed from her and falling onto the rider broadside floor.

We past get the afloat uncover of a demonic-looking, fanged babe with bat-like wings... Who past abruptly leaps into the backmost of the car, causing everyone to shriek but Mom, who gleefully cackles, arsenic she manipulates her umbilical cord to marque the demon babe determination from 1 rider to another… earlier it yet lunges astatine the terrified boy, violently smashing his caput into the model and presumably sidesplitting him, portion causing the model to shatter and sending his pacifier flying retired of his rima and into the h2o to the broadside of the road.

We past spot the pacifier statesman to interval into a familiar-looking sewer, with a airy shining astatine the extremity of it arsenic the show’s logo comes up.

Watch the caller trailer for IT: Welcome to Derry below:

You’ll emotion Derry truthful much, you’ll ne'er leave.#ITWelcomeToDerry premieres October 2025 connected HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/ptRIpC2Emg

After this precise effectual (and surprising-for-Comic-Con, fixed what we saw) series was shown, sister-brother duo Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, who made the IT films and present are producing the bid – with Andy besides directing immoderate episodes – took to the signifier for a little but alternatively informative and tantalizing Q&A, wherever the pursuing was revealed.

-The amusement volition research the origins of however the entity known arsenic IT came to instrumentality connected the signifier of Pennywise the Clown. This includes revealing the value of the sanction Bob Gray successful narration to Pennywise, aft Stephen King mentioned that sanction successful the archetypal novel.

-It was Stephen King himself who suggested that each play of Welcome to Derry could spell further backmost successful clip to an earlier 1 of IT’s instrumentality appearances (which hap each 27 years). For now, the amusement volition person to beryllium to beryllium a occurrence for immoderate aboriginal (or is that past?) to beryllium guaranteed, but the program is that Season 2 would beryllium acceptable successful 1935 and Season 3 successful 1908.

-Andy said they were utilizing respective big, catastrophic events successful Derry’s past described successful the books arsenic cardinal focal points for the series. Specifically, helium mentioned the burning of the Black Spot juke joint, the massacre of the section Bradley pack and the detonation of the Kitchener Ironworks, presumably with these events dispersed retired crossed those hypothetical 3 seasons.

-Barbara said she was shocked astatine however gory and graphic they were allowed to beryllium connected the series, promising “A batch much of that.” Andy was probably joking (but possibly not!) erstwhile helium added determination would beryllium “one afloat frontal aft another,” referring to the opening sequence’s astir shocking visual.

-Welcome to Derry Character Leroy Hanlon (played by Jovan Adepo) is the gramps to Mike Hanlon from IT, 1 of the publication and film’s main characters. Andy said determination would beryllium different connections to the IT characters successful the prequel series, with immoderate much evident oregon revealed much rapidly than others volition be.

-The amusement volition besides see astatine slightest 1 quality from the larger Stephen King beingness successful the signifier of Dick Halloran, who was archetypal introduced successful The Shining. Dick is mentioned successful the IT caller arsenic a worker who helped recovered the ill-fated Black Spot, which caters to section achromatic soldiers. He volition person a larger relation successful Welcome to Derry, wherever helium is played by Chris Chalk.

-The sheet concluded with an aboriginal look astatine the adjacent Welcome to Derry trailer. It’s a cool, appropriately ominous trailer, showing much glimpses of a household moving to Derry and opening to observe conscionable however unsafe things are, intermixed with glimpses of section missing children - and, arsenic with the archetypal teaser, a last changeable of Pennywise himself, erstwhile much played by Bill Skarsgard. Familiar IT sights similar the Neibolt House and Pennywise’s wagon are besides seen, on with 1 much overt transportation to different Stephen King stories by mode of a Shawshank Prison bus.

IT: Welcome to Derry premieres successful October connected HBO Max.