Stephen King’s It remains one of the most widely celebrated horror novels of all time, but the upcoming spin-off TV series, Welcome to Derry, has a lot to live up to. King is one of the most adapted authors of all time, with dozens of novels and short stories in his bibliography, and many of those titles being adapted for TV and movies. However, not all King stories are equal, and there have been numerous adaptations that have failed to hit the mark.
In particular, when King’s stories are taken and completely reimagined in new ways, going off book, like with The Lawnmower Man, or the recent Pet Sematary prequel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. For this reason, I’ve been sceptical and cautious about what to expect in the upcoming Welcome to Derry prequel series. However, movies like The Shining, which take the source material and create something new in the same spirit as the original, have been successful. And having seen the sizzle reel for Max’s upcoming releases, Welcome to Derry does appear to have a similar energy to It.
