Filmmaker Andy Muschietti gave horror a new face through the two-film adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, It. Now, Andy and his collaborator and sister Barbara are returning to the source material with a prequel TV show – It: Welcome to Derry. Ahead of the show’s release, the Muschiettis, who serve as joint creators, spoke to select journalists about the scope of the show, Bill Skarsgard’s return, and comparisons with Stranger Things.
On the shift from film to series
Set 27 years before the events of the first It film, Welcome to Derry serves as an origin story for It, the entity that terrorises the small town. Having earned acclaim as a film, the story now takes the long-form content format in the series. Addressing the change, Andy says, “Even though we’re film people, it’s pretty clear that film has its limitations. And given that we need it in length and in drama too because length transfers to how close you can you can get emotionally to the characters in a two-hour piece. So it has to do with the necessity of telling a bigger story that requires a little more real estate.”
On Stranger Things comparisons
But a shift to a TV show format brought the inevitable comparisons with Stranger Things. Both stories focus on a bunch of kids in a small American town fighting supernatural entities, while a government installation in the town hides dark secrets. Andy admits that he has not watched Stranger Things, and says, “I don’t know how to compare or not compare to Stranger Things. Our love for the book was the inspiration to tell the story and shed light on all these cryptic events that happened in the interludes. This is not only the origin of It but also a reveal. At the end of this show, I think the audience will have a feeling that what we know from the book and the movies is just the tip of the iceberg of a bigger story.”
Barbara, on the other hand, says she has watched Stranger Things and is very much a fan. “I have watched Stranger Things and I love it very much,” she says, adding, “But, I don’t think comparison has ever worked for anybody. You have to do what your path is. Our path was clearly marked by the book and then by our movies. That’s our context.”
Bill Skarsgard returns
One of the highlights of the two It films was Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, the primary antagonist of the story. The actor reprises his role in the series as well. “He’s a pillar of this,” says Andy, “The origin of this show has also to do with my conversations with Bill while we were doing It Two. We’re always fantasizing about what the origin story of Pennywise would be like. The idea of shedding some light on these big enigmas and question marks was a big drive for us. And Bill git excited because there were so many things that were different from a regular show here.”
An HBO original, It: Welcome to Derry stars Taylor Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Clara Stack, Amanda Christine, Mikkal Karim-Fidler, and Bill Skarsgård. It will begin streaming on JioHotstar in India from October 26.
