The people behind “It: Welcome to Derry” are positively floating about getting to handle the latest Stephen King adaptation, even if it’s a terrifying endeavor — as it’s a terror they welcome.
Executive producers Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane hit the HBO premiere red carpet on Monday night at Warner Bros. Studios, where they opened up about expanding upon their two-movie version of the horror mainstay into a prequel period piece.
“Having a property like this in your hands, as a Stephen King megafan, is as scary as anything I’ve ever read in a Stephen King book. It’s terrifying, because you care about it so much and you want to do right; not just by him and the fans, but by yourself,” co-showrunner/writer Fuchs told TheWrap. “I have such high expectations about what a story in this world can be, and Andy and Barbara set the bar so extraordinarily high with those films, so it’s quite scary but also exhilarating. We have the opportunity to do something really meaningful.”
“It’s always been a lot of fun and ‘It’ has lived in our hearts for a long time, since we read it when we were teenagers … It’s challenging, but exciting. We draw from our passion,” Andy shared, while Barbara continued, “We revere the books, so it’s not really a responsibility because we are possibly the biggest fans of the book.”
Sure, the show hasn’t even debuted yet, but can fans expect a second season?
“The big arc of this story is the three cycles — 1962, 1935 and 1908 — and we’re telling the story backwards,” Andy confirmed, as Barbara noted, “That’s the plan.”
“In doing a show like this, you start unveiling certain mysteries and those mysteries lead to other mysteries, so it’s kind of impossible not to start to think about what happened 27 years before this. 1935, what stories are buried there?” Fuchs added. “If the audience were to like this story and want to go for another ride deeper into Derry’s past, I’d be all for it.”
Meanwhile, his fellow co-showrunner/writer has been pulling double duty as the man behind Jason Voorhees prequel series “Crystal Lake” over on Peacock.
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve been a horror kid since I was eight years old since I saw ‘Friday the 13th Part III’ in 3D in theaters. I always wanted to be here doing this … I’m no longer the kid under the blanket, I’m making the nightmares,” Kane told TheWrap. “We just wrapped filming on ‘Crystal Lake.’ Linda Cardellini is brilliant, she’ll break your heart, she’s an icon. It’s going to be a great addition to the feminist horror canon.”
Other notable attendees included stars Taylour Paige, James Remar, Chris Chalk, Stephen Rider, Amanda Christine, Clara Stack, Blake Cameron James, Miles Ekhardt, Joshua Odjick, Kimberly Norris-Guerrero, Shane Marriott, BJ Harrison, Alixandra Fuchs and Rudy Mancuso, as well as Camila Mendes, Fiona Dourif, Gerran Howell and Gabriel Luna.
“It: Welcome to Derry” premieres Sunday, Oct. 26, on HBO and HBO Max.
