The show you need to be watching: "Welcome to Derry"

IT: Welcome to Derry is racing toward the finale of its first nail-biting season, and it has exceeded every expectation—easily becoming one of, if not the, best shows of 2025. More impressively, it stands among the strongest Stephen King adaptations ever made.

The horror prequel, airing Sundays on HBO and Max, weaves multiple storylines through an early-1960s Derry steeped in racial tension, political unrest, and the looming threat of nuclear annihilation as Cold War anxieties escalate.

In Derry, the U.S. military—desperate for any edge over the Soviets—is searching for a terrifying entity powered by fear: a creature of myth that crashed in New England centuries ago.

That creature, of course, is Pennywise—the crimson-haired clown who awakens every 27 years to feast on children before slinking back into the sewers to hibernate.

Meanwhile, a group of local adolescents bands together to confront the clown on their own terms and convince the adults of their sleepy town that something unspeakably evil lurks beneath their feet.

When Welcome to Derry was first announced with the creative team behind the 2017 and 2019 reboot films, it seemed destined to be, at best, a familiar retread. Instead, the series justifies its existence and then some—giving the filmmakers room to flex creative muscles that were underdeveloped (or entirely absent) in the movies.

Pennywise is meaner, nastier, and far more chilling this time around. Bill Skarsgård returns with a performance sharpened by experience and freed from the pressure of proving himself to fans of Tim Curry’s iconic 1990 portrayal.

The stakes are also higher. This cast isn’t protected by plot armor—save for a few Stephen King staples whose fates hinge on the author’s wider lore, such as The Shining’s Dick Hallorann, who plays a key role here.

The series sets the tone early with an extremely graphic opening, making it clear that survival isn’t guaranteed for anyone.

That ever-present uncertainty colors every frame. The more time you spend with this proto-Losers Club—laughing, bickering, falling in love, and getting into trouble—the more the dread grows. How long do they have left? And if they do survive… could that somehow be worse?

King diehards will enjoy the many nods to the larger universe, but newcomers don’t need a PhD in Dark Tower lore to get swept up in the series.

The cast is outstanding—especially the young performers, who deliver work far beyond their years. Among the adults, Chris Chalk, Taylour Paige, Madeline Stowe, and Jovan Adepo lead a magnetic ensemble, with James Remar, Peter Outerbridge, and Kimberly Guerrero sinking their teeth into every scene.

The series’ meticulous attention to sets, costumes, and period detail grounds viewers in the 1960s. Vintage music, civil-defense “duck and cover” footage, and the era’s pervasive anxiety enhance the horror rather than just decorate it.

With two episodes left this season, now is the perfect time to “float” down to Derry and witness one of the best new shows in years.