IT: Welcome to Derry was one of the best and most surprising TV shows of 2025. Based on Stephen King‘s novel IT, Andy Muschietti‘s HBO Max series could have been an unnecessary cash grab coasting on past success, but it quickly revealed itself as much more. The series took a deep dive into the mythology of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), adding new and unexpected layers to a familiar character.

Despite HBO not yet giving the greenlight to a second season of IT: Welcome to Derry, the show’s future is already taking shape, with new additions to the writing team reportedly announced. Among them are two people who could potentially shake things up for Derry, Maine, in a major genre shift for the series.

Pennywise Reveals He’s More Than a Killer Clown in ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Season 1

The best part of Muschietti’s IT films is Skarsgård’s performance as the entity’s killer clown form, but the actor built on what had impressed audiences in the feature films and turned it up to wild new heights in IT: Welcome to Derry. However, the HBO Max series showed great restraint, keeping Pennywise mostly hidden until the final three episodes. When it finally does show up, the clown is more violent than ever, making his appearance count. Before that point, the anticipation builds as IT: Welcome to Derry focuses on a new iteration of the Losers’ Club.

As the entity appears in various other forms throughout IT: Welcome to Derry, Season 1’s plot digs deeper into its background and powers. One flashback, told by Rose (Kimberly Guerrero), reveals that the entity is an alien who crash-landed on Earth. The inhabitants of Derry were able to fight it by crafting a dagger made of the star it came from. At the end of Season 1, after the U.S. military purposely releases the fear-inducing entity to control civilians, the kids battle Pennywise with the dagger.

‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Is Bringing in Two Sci-Fi Writers

While a second season hasn’t yet been confirmed for IT: Welcome to Derry, we can speculate about the future direction of the show based on certain clues that have already been dropped. While Season 1 took place in 1962, the second and third seasons will likely jump backwards in time by 27-year intervals to 1935 and 1908, the points when Pennywise previously emerged in Derry to wreak bloody havoc.

Skarsgård will also likely return alongside a new cast of characters for Pennywise to terrorize, but according to reports, some new writers have been added to the mix, including Jessica Mecklenburg, who worked on Stranger Things as a writer and producer, The Penguin‘s John McCutcheon, who penned the brilliant episode “Cent’Anni,” and Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar. If you’re not familiar with those names, you probably know their work as the creators of Netflix’s sci-fi time-travel series Dark.

‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Season 2 Should Explore Pennywise’s Ability To Time Travel

Image via HBO Max

Dark first debuted on Netflix in 2017. The story begins in the present day, where a child has gone missing from the town of Winden, Germany. For the locals, it’s a moment that shares eerie similarities with other disappearances. Dark takes a time-travel template and makes it feel fresh and authentic, exploring generations of characters within a unique premise. It also uses the sci-fi genre to tell unpredictable stories across timelines about trauma and the inability to escape one’s fate. Sound familiar?

The first season of IT: Welcome to Derry examines grief and trauma, but it’s also jumping back in time, from 1989 in Muschietti’s first film to 1962. That’s not simply the convenience of a prequel; in a game-changing twist, Pennywise reveals that it can move forward and backward in time, and already knows how and when it will die. Although the entity is defeated in 1962, it can travel back 27 years to find the ancestors of those who will kill it in the future. If they’re destroyed, its death can be averted.

IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 has the potential to move beyond pure horror to a sci-fi bent. What could be a jump-the-shark moment in the wrong hands becomes a logical next step for the series, especially with the geniuses behind Dark on board.