🔗 Share this article

Audiences are thrilled for the Stephen King adaptation It: Welcome to Derry, that's been receiving positive feedback and drawing from themes from other Stephen King works. Now, the network declared that the second installment will debut sooner than expected, released fittingly for the spookiest night.

Early Release Details

Kicking off on October 31 at 12 a.m. Pacific Time, the next part of It: Welcome to Derry will launch on the streaming service, ahead of its Sunday HBO premiere. The remaining installments of the show's first season will continue to air on the weekend on both HBO and its streaming arm, building toward the concluding chapter on the 14th of December.

Show Background

Based in Stephen King’s It universe, the new series borrows elements from King’s iconic novel while expanding on the setting brought to life by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the two It films. The first It movie highlighted kids and teens facing unimaginable horrors, making it appropriate that the series continues that tradition. Nevertheless, the first installment of the streaming show demonstrates it set out to escalate the fear, delivering heightened horror than the movies and creating a brutal tone for the rest of the season.

Story World and Concepts

Set in 1962, the program introduces a different group of grown-ups and kids living in a apparently peaceful community concealing a dark secret. The town functions through a brutal, periodic loop—one marked by hostility, discrimination, and otherworldly forces, as a monstrous presence resurfaces once every three decades. While the series might seem like it leans too heavily to the films initially, what differentiates the HBO Max series is its two-sided viewpoint—told from the viewpoints of young and old simultaneously. Younger characters remain especially susceptible to It's terror, but the adults also face dealing with their individual fears stemming from local discrimination and hidden paranormal elements.

Episode 2 airs on Halloween at midnight PT.