The It franchise is built on Stephen King's 1986 horror novel about Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a shapeshifting creature that wakes every 27 years to feed on the children of Derry, Maine, and the group of kids known as the Losers' Club who fight it. The story has been adapted as a 1990 television miniseries with Tim Curry, two films directed by Andy Muschietti, It in 2017 and It Chapter Two in 2019, and the HBO prequel series It: Welcome to Derry, which premiered in October 2025. Bill Skarsgård plays Pennywise in the films and the series, and HBO renewed Welcome to Derry for a second season in August 2026, set in 1935. Andy and Barbara Muschietti also executive produce the prequel series. The movies split the novel in two, with the first film following the Losers' Club as kids and the second following them as adults 27 years later. This page covers every It movie and TV adaptation, the Losers' Club, Pennywise, and what is coming next.
Stephen King published It in 1986, and it follows seven friends in Derry who fight a creature that takes the form of what scares each of them most, most often Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The book jumps between the kids' summer of fighting It and the adults who return to Derry 27 years later after the creature wakes again. That structure is why the movies were split into two films.
Tommy Lee Wallace directed the two-part ABC miniseries, with Tim Curry as Pennywise. The adult Losers' Club includes Richard Thomas as Bill Denbrough, Annette O'Toole as Beverly Marsh, and John Ritter as Ben Hanscom. Curry's version of the clown is the one Skarsgård was measured against when the films came out.
Andy Muschietti directed the first film, which reached theaters on September 8, 2017, with Bill Skarsgård taking over as Pennywise. Georgie Denbrough disappears into a storm drain, and his older brother Bill leads the Losers' Club into the Barrens and the sewers to find him. Jaeden Lieberher plays Bill, Sophia Lillis plays Beverly Marsh, Jeremy Ray Taylor plays Ben Hanscom, Finn Wolfhard plays Richie Tozier, Jack Dylan Grazer plays Eddie Kaspbrak, Wyatt Oleff plays Stanley Uris, and Chosen Jacobs plays Mike Hanlon. Wolfhard also stars in the Stranger Things franchise.
Muschietti returned for the second film, released September 6, 2019, which picks up 27 years later when Mike Hanlon calls the Losers' Club back to Derry. James McAvoy plays Bill, Jessica Chastain plays Beverly, Bill Hader plays Richie, Isaiah Mustafa plays Mike, Jay Ryan plays Ben, James Ransone plays Eddie, and Andy Bean plays Stanley. Skarsgård plays Pennywise again, and this film closed out Muschietti's adaptation of the novel.
It: Welcome to Derry is an HBO prequel series that premiered on October 26, 2025, with Skarsgård back as Pennywise. The first season is set in 1962, when a family moves to Derry just as a young boy disappears. Blake Cameron James plays Will Hanlon, the son of Leroy and Charlotte Hanlon and the future father of Mike Hanlon, and Skarsgård also plays Bob Gray, the original human Pennywise from 1908. The series streams on HBO Max.
Tim Curry played Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries, and Bill Skarsgård has played the clown in the 2017 film, It Chapter Two, and Welcome to Derry. In the series, the creature has been awake in Derry long before 1962, and Skarsgård's Bob Gray is the human face it wore in 1908. The Losers' Club is the group of kids who fight Pennywise in the story, and the recurring members are Bill, Beverly, Ben, Richie, Eddie, Stanley, and Mike.
Welcome to Derry takes place before the films. Season 1 is set in 1962, which is the Pennywise cycle before the one in the 2017 film, and the original human Pennywise appears in 1908. Chapter Two is set 27 years after the first film. The story of the series moves backward in time, so the timeline order and the release order are not the same.
HBO renewed Welcome to Derry for a second season in August 2026. The season is set in 1935 during the Great Depression and centers on the Bloody Bradley Gang Massacre, with Skarsgård confirmed to return as Pennywise. HBO has not announced a release date, and no other cast has been announced.
There are two It movies directed by Andy Muschietti, It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), plus the 1990 miniseries and the HBO series It: Welcome to Derry.
Tim Curry played Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries, and Bill Skarsgård has played him in the 2017 film, It Chapter Two, and It: Welcome to Derry.
Yes, It: Welcome to Derry is a prequel series, with the first season set in 1962 and the second season set in 1935.
HBO renewed the series in August 2026 but has not announced a release date.
It: Welcome to Derry streams on HBO Max.