After eight episodes of clown-fueled terror, that’s a wrap on IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1. But particularly given — spoilers past this point — the time-traveling twist about Pennywise (Bill Skårsgard) dropped in the finale, you’re probably dying to know: when will Welcome to Derry Season 2 premiere on HBO and HBO Max?
I’m not going to belabor this point much further, and will note that the show has not been renewed by HBO as of this writing. However, that doesn’t mean it’s been canceled by default. And in fact, there’s good reason to think it likely will be renewed, sooner rather than later. Not only that, but we have a fair idea of what Season 2 — and Season 3 — will be about.
So with that in mind, let’s break down what we know so far.
Has IT: Welcome To Derry Been Renewed Or Canceled?
Well, I just said this, but I guess I can repeat it: Welcome to Derry has not been renewed as of this writing. However you might have noticed the very pointed “IT: Welcome to Derry… Chapter One” title that appeared right before the end credits scene. Certainly the show is planning to continue, and like we said, there’s already motion on that front.
Specifically, back on June 16, 2025 or thereabouts, a writers room convened to work on Welcome to Derry Season 2. That’s not guarantee a show has been picked up, and in fact in the modern era happens more often than not… Basically, they get the scripts going so they can slide right into production if the ratings merit.
In this case, the ratings do merit. Late last week, HBO reported that the episodes of the show have averaged 10.7 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max. More importantly, it’s been growing week to week — or at least the social conversation has, meaning people are talking about it. And that’s sort of all you want for a TV show in the modern age, and particularly for HBO/HBO Max, which thrives on subscriptions.
While HBO shows that debuted in the same window including I Love LA and The Chair Company have been renewed, Welcome to Derry is likely far more expensive to produce, which could explain the delay. Point being, unless something goes very wrong, expect a renewal to be announced shortly, even though it may be a while until we get to see Season 2.
What We Know About IT: Welcome To Derry Season 2:
Even with a renewal TBD, we do know one very specific thing about Welcome to Derry Season 2: it will be set in 1935. That’s the Pennywise cycle prior to the one in Season 1 (which was in 1962). And in fact, we’ve already seen an important part of that season in the flashback to the younger Ingrid Kersh (Tyner Rushing) thinking she reunited with her father Bob Gray (also Skårsgard) in the Juniper Hill asylum.
That’s not the only part of Season 2 we know about… Like how the burning of The Black Spot was the Augury, aka the spurt of violence that ends the cycle, in Season 1, the Augury in Season 2 will be the massacre of The Bradley Gang. You can click the link right before this for more on that, but if you’ll recall the car full of skeletons at the end of Episode 2? That’s The Bradley Gang.
Interestingly, due to the different timeline of the movies/TV shows and the novel, the massacre of the Bradley Gang and the burning of The Black Spot actually happened during the same cycle in the book. Here, they’ve been separated by 27 years, and we’ll likely meet the members of the Bradley Gang, as well as explore more about Juniper Hill and Ingrid’s search for her father in Season 2.
Actor-wise, the only thing we know for sure is that Skårsgard would have to be back as Pennywise. But otherwise, expect an entirely new cast, unless they decide to do that thing where the same actors play their own ancestors.
Oh, and I mentioned Season 3, right? If we get that far, it’ll take place in 1908.
When Will IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 Premiere On HBO And HBO Max?
Okay, so imagining that Welcome to Derry has been picked up for Season 2, when could it potentially premiere? The answer is: not for a while.
Normally, we’d take a look at potential premiere dates based on the time it took to shoot and release the previous season. In this case, Welcome to Derry Season 1 began filming in May of 2023, but was halted in July 2023, and didn’t resume until the SAG/WGA strikes allowed filming to begin again (you may have noticed some weird height discrepancies with the kid actors mid-season? That’s why). The whole thing wrapped in August of 2024, and then as you may be aware, hit HBO the end of October of 2025. It reportedly had 237 shoot days, too, which if you can’t do the math is almost eight months, if you don’t count weekends (so probably longer).
That’s a really long production time, and a really long post-production time. Assuming there are no other strikes interrupting, and scripts are done, it’s likely that production could spool up pretty soon (some unreliable info has placed production as starting in March of 2026, which sounds right, but TBD).
Let’s for the sake of argument, assume Welcome to Derry Season 2 is a more typical production, particularly as second seasons tend to go a little smoother — even if in this case they need to build completely new sets for the new timeline of the season. Let’s say a six-eight month production time, and an eight to 10 month post-production time. If this does start production in March, that places the episodes as being finished 14 months later at the earliest, and 18 months later at the latest. That means that IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 definitely won’t premiere in 2026, and more likely some time in 2027.
Even with the range we threw out before, it seems possible that HBO would once again aim for an October, 2027 premiere date for Welcome to Derry Season 2. However, there’s a big honking asterisk here, which is that by that point it’s likely HBO, HBO Max, and even their parent company Warner Bros. Discovery will be under new ownership. That could impact all of the above exactly zero percent, or it could change everything. Given all that? Let’s take a wild guess and say that Welcome to Derry Season 2 could premiere in either the Summer or Fall of 2027. But by that point, who even knows if there will be an HBO or HBO Max anymore?
IT: Welcome To Derry Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of IT: Welcome To Derry premiere on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9pm ET.
Here’s the full list of episodes in IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 with premiere dates:
- Sunday, October 26, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 1
- Sunday, November 2, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 2
- Sunday, November 9, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 3
- Sunday, November 16, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 4
- Sunday, November 23, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 5
- Sunday, November 30, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 6
- Sunday, December 7, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 7
- Sunday, December 14, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch IT: Welcome To Derry
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