IT: Welcome to Derry: what time is episode 1 out and who is in the cast? UK and US timings explained
Autumn TV is about to get a lot scarier 🎃😭📺
- Pennywise is back for Halloween.
- The IT movies are getting a prequel.
- But when can you tune in?
A much-anticipated prequel to the blockbuster IT movies is about to arrive just in time for Halloween. Prepare to feel an extra chill down your spine this autumn.
Set decades before the horror films from the 2010s it brings viewers back to the fictional city of Derry, Maine. It follows a couple who moves to town in the 1960s just as children start to disappear.
IT author Stephen King has promised that it is "terrifying" but when can you tune in? Here’s all you need to know:
What time is IT: Welcome to Derry episode 1?
Nothing says Halloween is here like a helping of terror from the master of horror himself - Stephen King. The show is a prequel to the blockbuster movies IT: Chapter One and Chapter Two, both of which are based on the author’s doorstopper novel.
It is set to be broadcast at 9pm ET on HBO on Sunday night (October 26), for those in the US. Welcome to Derry’s premiere will be available at 2am British time on Monday (October 27) via Sky and NowTV.
Sky Atlantic will also broadcast the new episodes at 9pm on Monday nights, for those who want a more regular viewing experience.
The preview for episode one, via Radio Times, reads: “In 1962, a couple with their son move to Derry, Maine, just as a young boy disappears and very bad things begin to happen in the town.”
Who is in the cast of IT: Welcome to Derry?
The horror series will take place 20 years before the events of the first movie, meaning that there will be lots of new faces. However, importantly, one familiar star is set to return.
Bill Skarsgård will be reprising his role as the nightmare inducing clown Pennywise for the show. However he is not the only Stephen King returning for the show - Dick Hallorann from The Shining will also be showing up in this show.
For those who haven’t read the book, the character does appear in the original IT novel. He was one of the founders of The Black Spot, a bar for African-American soldiers.
The rest of the cast includes:
- Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon
- Jovan Adepo as Leroy Hanlon
- Blake Cameron James as Will Hanlon
- Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann
- James Remar as General Shaw
- Stephen Rider as Hank
- Madeleine Stowe
- Rudy Mancuso as Captain Pauly Russo
- Clara Stack as Lilly
- Amanda Christine as Ronnie
- Mikkal Karim-Fidler as Teddy
- Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown
Recurring
- Dean Yool
- Alixandra Fuchs
- Kimberly Norris Guerrero as Rose
- Tyner Rushing
- Dorian Grey
- Thomas Mitchell
- BJ Harrison
- Peter Outerbridge
- Shane Marriott
- Chad Rook
- Joshua Odjick
- Morningstar Angeline
Stephen King delivers verdict on Welcome to Derry
Since Carrie first hit the big screen back in the 1970s, the blockbuster author has inspired plenty of movies and shows over the decades. Books like The Stand, Salem’s Lot, and The Shining have all had small screen adaptations - while he also wrote his own show with 1999’s Storm of the Century.
Before IT was turned into two blockbuster movies in the 2010s, the doorstopper novel was made into a TV miniseries in 1990. Tim Currie famously played the nightmare inducing clown Pennywise in the two-part programme.
Throughout the years, Stephen King has been vocal in both his support and critiques of adaptations of his books. He famously wasn’t a fan of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining movie.
Fortunately, he seems to be a fan of this new TV show. In a post on Threads, the author wrote: “WELCOME TO DERRY is amazing. First episode is terrifying.”
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