“IT: Welcome to Derry” meets previous installments in the Stephen King cinematic universe on their level, if not exceeding them.

  When fans of the “IT” franchise (“IT” (2017) and “IT: Chapter Two” (2019), got wind of a brand-new series in the same continuity as their beloved saga, responses were…mixed, to say the least. 

   A good portion of the “IT” fandom are teenagers and young adults who were kids when “IT” (2017) took the world by storm. As a result, they are attached to the original cast of that movie and the sequel. 

   Unfortunately for them, when the poster was released, it became apparent that the original cast was not returning. Instead, there would be a new group of kids facing the eldritch evil taking the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. 

   This series was to be a prequel to the movies, being set 27 years earlier in 1962. Reactions to this news were not overwhelmingly enthusiastic. 

   That being said, the trailer still looked fairly promising, but no one knew exactly what we were in for on Oct. 26. 

   The pilot episode of “IT: Welcome to Derry” premiered on HBO Max and was met with raving positive reviews. It was a strong start, and the show subverted audience expectations and continued to do so throughout its 8-episode run. 

   One of the strongest features of “Welcome to Derry” is the cast. 

   You can have a good premise, a good script, a good setting, you can have every single thing as perfect as humanly possible, but at the end of the day, you need a group of characters that audiences can invest themselves in.

   Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown is fantastic as usual. Skarsgård always brings everything he has to this role, and it feels so earned when he makes his series debut in episode 5. It is a slow burn that pays off beautifully, and you can feel the shift when he finally appears. 

   The new cast of kids is amazing as well, even though sometimes I struggled to understand Lilly (Clara Stack) and the way she handles certain situations. Lilly is still interesting as our unofficial protagonist, and we want to see her and her new friends survive this nightmare. 

   These new friends include: the endearing Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya), the insanely annoying (at first) Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler), the troubled Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine), and our most obvious “legacy” character of the bunch, Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James). 

   Seasoned “IT” fans will immediately recognize the last name Hanlon. Mike Hanlon was one of the original kids from “IT” (2017) who was tormented by Pennywise in 1989. 

   Will is Mike’s father, when he was young, of course. It is fun to see where his story goes in the series, but knowing he must survive these events because he ends up dying in a fire alongside Mike’s mother (happens off-screen, briefly touched upon in “IT” [2017]) kind of dampers the experience and lowers the stakes. 

   Will’s father Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) also appears in this show, and I honestly enjoyed his arc more than Will’s. Granted, he is given more to do in his storyline while Will is one of a group of young characters that have a common goal, and sometimes it feels like he’s just along for the ride as opposed to a necessary companion on the journey.

   Leroy is a steadfast military man who obeys his superiors’ every whim until he realizes something is very, very wrong in Derry and he must choose between being a good soldier and being a good husband to Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and father to Will.   

   The week-by-week episodic format really benefited this series, especially with the edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers the creators loved doling out weekly.   

   “Welcome to Derry” lit a fire under “IT” fans that they hadn’t felt since 2019, and it was a welcome return to form for those who felt nostalgic for that time period. The show was so heavily raved about that even non-“IT” fans tuned in each week to see what was going to happen next. 

   It didn’t hurt matters that the theme song was incredibly catchy. “A Smile and a Ribbon” was such an earworm that you could hardly scroll on social media without every other video containing it.     

   “IT: Welcome to Derry” contains so many different brilliant elements that come together to form an absolutely thrilling experience for new and old fans alike. Even if you’ve never watched any “IT” content, you will enjoy this show. It is likable in nearly every way, except for the lack of rewatchability. 

   Because the show is so twisty and keeps the audience on their toes the first time around, rewatching it simply does not contain that same magic. It’s a small complaint, but a valid one nonetheless. 

   That being said, “Welcome to Derry” was a true miracle for the “IT” fans who hadn’t had much hope for the show to be good in the first place, let alone great. No one could’ve seen the cliffhanger ending of episode 1 coming, and the following episodes only continued to impress from there. As a standalone season of television, “IT: Welcome to Derry” is excellent. It doesn’t lean on the source material to make it good, it instead expands on it while simultaneously adding new, compelling lore to the character of the “IT” demon.