2025 and 2026 have been great years for horror. Between films like Sinners, Obsession and Backrooms breaking box office records and the release of horror television shows like Stranger Things Season 5 and IT: Welcome to Derry, horror fans are truly living the dream. Last year, Andy Muschietti’s IT: Welcome to Derry released on HBO Max with Bill Skarsgård returning as Pennywise. The television series follows Stephen King’s IT, with season one set in the 1960s and leading up to the first film.
Season one follows a new group of kids, starring Clara Stack (Lily Bainbridge), Amanda Christine (Ronnie Grogan), Matilda Lawler (Marge Truman), Blake Cameron James (Will Hanlon) and Arian S. Cartaya (Rich Santos). Taylour Paige (Charlotte Hanlon), Chris Chalk (Dick Hallorann), Rudy Mancuso (Captain Pauly Russo) and Jovan Adepo (Leroy Hanlon) also starred in season one.
Following the first episode of the season, fans were hooked. Social media platforms like X and TikTok exploded with fan theories, edits and posts after weekly Sunday episodes. And although there were only eight episodes last season, fans were excited to see more. In August, HBO announced the renewal of the show for season two. It’s currently in pre-production.
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Fans are already getting a glimpse of season two via teasers. “We’re writing the scripts. We’re about halfway through the writing of the scripts. We have a production schedule, we’re greenlit for a Season 2, and Andy Muschietti’s out there casting. You’re going to see a different kind of Pennywise, the way you’ve never seen that character before,” Brad Caleb Kane, showrunner and executive producer, told Deadline. Kane is also the producer of Crystal Lake, which tells the origin story of Friday the 13th killer Jason Voorhees. Starring horror icon Linda Cardellini, the show premiered on Peacock on October 15, 2026.
‘IT: WELCOME TO DERRY’ Season 2 is in pre-production.
“We’re about halfway through the writing of the scripts. We have a production schedule, we’re greenlit for a Season 2, and Andy Muschietti’s out there casting.”
(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/xYt9Exyp3C
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 17, 2026
IT: Welcome to Derry isn’t the only Stephen King television adaptation dominating the horror TV space. Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of King’s novel Carrie premiered on Amazon Prime Video on October 7, 2026, just in time for Halloween. The show is a modern take on the classic horror novel, starring Summer H. Howell as Carrie. Of course, horror fans have been binge-watching the season, reacting to storylines on social media and making comparisons to the Carrie films, notably the 1976 version starring Sissy Spacek. Flanagan recently teased season two in an interview with PEOPLE. “In a dream scenario, I think it’d be really cool to continue the story,” he says. “I’ve never gotten to do that. And we certainly tried to leave the ingredients there for that to be the case,” he told the outlet.
Each season of IT: Welcome to Derry will be set 27 years earlier. Season one is set in 1962, 27 years prior to IT (2017). Season two will be set in 1935 during the Great Depression and will follow the Bradley Gang massacre, while season three will be set in 1908. While a release date for season two hasn’t been announced, we can expect its release sometime in 2027. Stream season one of IT: Welcome to Derry on HBO Max.
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