The prequel series about Pennywise «It: Welcome to Derry» received a new trailer at Comic Con 2025, but only the most attentive viewers might have noticed an important reference to the hit Stephen King film adaptation of the 1990s.
To begin with, it’s worth knowing that the series takes us back to the beginning: in the 1960s, when the city of Derry is just beginning to plunge into the evil brought by a killer clown responsible for the disappearance of children. Bill Skashgård plays Pennywise in all three projects (the series and two films), but this time, it seems, an important backstory has been prepared for the character.
In one of the frames of the trailer, you can see a reference to perhaps the most touching story by Stephen King, filmed as «Shawshank Redemption» in the 1990s. At the 57-second mark, we are shown a bus carrying prisoners with the inscription «Shawshank State Prison» — an element that some fans have linked to Pennywise’s potential stay at the facility in the past. Is this really true? A question that we hope the series will answer.
«Shawshank Redemption» starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman was ranked number one in the rating of the top 250 movies according to IMDb and has an almost perfect audience score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes
However, it is also possible that this is a simple Easter egg for fans of the King of Horror’s work, which does not carry a significant subtext. In the original novel «It» Shawshank, Shawshank was mentioned many times, and in general, prison is one of the narrative devices that often appeared in Stephen King’s stories. Interestingly, the timing of the events of «Welcome to Derry» coincides with the chronology of the cult movie by Frank Darabont.
In addition to Skashgård, the cast includes Taylor Paige («Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.»), Giovan Adepo («Watchmen»), Chris Chock («Perry Mason»), James Remar («Oppenheimer») and others. The script was written by «It» director Andrés Muschietti, his sister Barbara and Jason Fuchs (the trio also served as executive producers, and Andrés directed four of the nine episodes).
In previous interviews, Muschietti has explained that the «series will tell the story in the opposite direction of», with three seasons in mind:
«This is a story based on the book’s interludes. Interludes — are essentially chapters that reflect Mike Hanlon’s research, fragments of it. For 27 years, the guy has been trying to understand what it is, what made it, who made it, who saw it, and all that… So the first season — is 1962, the second season — is 1935, and the third season — is 1908».
The series «It: Welcome to Derry» will be released on HBO and Max in October (the exact date has not yet been announced). This is only one of a large number of Stephen King adaptations to be released in 2025: earlier, the following debuted series «Institute», movies «Monkey» and «The Life of Chuck» with Tom Hiddleston; Next, we are waiting for «Long stroke»from the director of «The Hunger Games» Francis Lawrence and«The Running Man» with Glenn Paul in the new version by Ben Richards.
Source: Screen Rant, Tech Radar
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