The new HBO prequel series “It: Welcome to Derry” expands plenty on Pennywise and the town’s lore, but there is still a bit you need to remember before jumping in.
The new series takes place before the Losers Club first faces off with the monster haunting their Maine home, but there are plenty of connections and echoes of what is to come tucked into the HBO show. The new series expands on Pennywise’s origin story but it can never hurt to refresh the baseline established in the films – and why certain characters may seem familiar.
Here is what you need to remember about how “It: Welcome to Derry” connects to the 2017 and 2019 movies.
When does “Welcome to Derry” take place during It’s cycle of killing?
Pennywise operates on a period of killing and a long period of hibernation. He’s been going through this cycle for hundreds of years and the show explores an iteration before the events of the movie.
Every 27 years Pennywise wakes to wreak havoc on Derry, Maine. In “It: Chapter One,” the monster wakes in 1989 and faces off with the Losers Club for the first time. “It: Welcome to Derry” follows the cycle of killing that took place before the film’s, and is set in 1962.
Which characters are related?
One character in particular is heavily connected to the HBO series. Mike Hanlon (played in the first film by Chosen Jacobs and the sequel by Isaiah Mustafa) has a long tie to the haunted town that begins in the 1962 story. His grandfather and dad both appear in Season 1. Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) moves his family to town when he gets places on the nearby military base. His only son Will is just a boy when he first arrives in Derry.
In the film, Mike’s dad is dead and he works on a farm with an elderly version of his grandfather Leroy (played by Steven Williams). He is taught to kill sheep by his grandpa with the bolt pistol. Mike later uses the bolt pistol in his fight against Pennywise.
Pennywise’s Origin and Arrival
In “It: Chapter Two,” the Losers Club return to Derry to face Pennywise once again and learn much more about his origin. The monster crash landed on the planet millions of years ago in the area that would eventually become Derry, Maine. He is a cosmic entity hailing from a space-beyond-space called The Macroverse – or Todash Space for anyone versed in “The Dark Tower” lore – who traveled across his plane of existence before entering ours and landing in North America.
It wasn’t until settlers started plotting out what would be Derry in the 1700s that Pennywise became active. From then on, the monster began his 27-year cycle that would continue until the Losers Club dealt with him.
