Inside the ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ set — and how the prequel series was born
I don’t know. Yeah. The whole time. Yeah. Yeah. Which was cool because we got a chance to see I don’t know Toronto. And and also they a lot of the places they used were the places they used for the OG joint. So to be like like even like different towns you and people are like oh is this and they welcome you. It is pretty cool. I mean like the privilege of being in something that’s already established. It’s everybody’s always like come on in you’re in it now. I’m like oh my god it’s not like other shows when you’re establishing a show they’re like get out of here. I haven’t heard of it. So it was really nice to go back to with the same mostly the same the same crew the same company to be able to go. We were so well taken care of some of the same hotels. So that was Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And well the the town changed very little uh the storefronts and all I mean, we went we shot in the same place, uh, Port Hope, uh, outside of Toronto, and it it looks the same as it did in like the the cars are different, but much of it is is the same. Like there’s this railroad trestle that goes by. There’s this wonderful sequence where the kids are going to the quarry and the train is in the background. Um, that that’s all still there. Uh, so when I stepped onto that that set, even though it’s supposed to be many years earlier, uh, I felt like I’d been there before. Yeah. For me, it was really this meta moment because one of my favorite moments in the movies, uh, it would be chapter 2 when Stephen King makes an appearance. Okay. And he makes an appearance in Secondhand Rose. So to get to play Rose um and to get to be in that exact space and I believe I’m even sitting on the side of the counter where Stephen was sitting. I was going to ask he’s behind the counter and his cameo. Yes, exactly. So it felt very intentional and really profound to get to be in that space because again like the space holds that energy. It remembers that story. So, it was a real gift to get to circle back and join in to this story that’s already being told and even take it deeper and take it back further. When I say goodbye, I was having conversations with Bill Scarsgard about like how cool it would be to to to to tell the story of of the origins of of Penny Weiss, uh, how it became a clown. When did that happen? Because that’s one of the big question marks in that are presented in the book. And we were like just fantasizing about making a movie. And it that evolved later, you know, into into the idea of making it a series that comprised a a bigger, fuller story uh that that would make more justice to the entire story told in the book, but also an opportunity to ask to to answer a lot of questions that that that were just like very crypt cryptic messages and and uh and and an unfinished puzzle in the book. Okay. uh intentionally uh and that’s how it that’s how it all started. Yeah. So, I was lucky enough to get invited to help on It Chapter 2 uh way back when they were about to start production on that. So, I came in and was working on it uh essentially through the whole shoot. And as we were making that film, myself and Andy and Barbara, there were some conversations about doing a third hit film uh a prequel that would revolve around sort of the origin story of Penny Wise. And it was never a super serious conversation. It was more just a a what if wouldn’t this be cool? And those conversations kind of subsided for a variety of reasons. It didn’t feel like the right version of that story to tell. And I would say about a year or so later, I was working on something else with Andy and Barbara. And I was walking into the Warner Brothers parking lot and Andy, almost as an afterthought, said to me, “Hey, would you want to do an IT prequel series?” And I just thought that sounded like the most amazing idea ever. And it was the easiest yes of my career. Great. And we built it from there.
You’ll float too.
“It: Welcome to Derry,” HBO’s chilling new prequel to Andy Muschietti’s blockbuster “It” films, premieres Sunday night, diving deep into the dark origins of Stephen King’s Pennywise.
Set decades before the Losers Club faces off against the killer dancing clown, the series explores how evil first took hold of the cursed Maine town, and what twisted forces have been feeding on fear there ever since.
Read more at https://nypost.com/2025/10/24/entertainment/inside-bill-skarsgards-it-welcome-to-derry-how-pennywise-prequel-series-was-born/
#andymuschietti #it #welcometoderry
Page Six is your source for celebrity news, gossip, entertainment, pop culture, photos, video and more.
Catch the latest news and gossip here:
https://pagesix.com/
Follow us on:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pagesix/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/PageSix
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pagesix/
Check out We Hear, our Page Six podcast!
And Page Six Style has the latest news on celebrity style including fashion trends, red carpet photos, and beauty tips.
Catch the latest news here: https://pagesix.com/style/
Follow us on:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pagesix/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/PageSix