It: Welcome to Derry season 2: Cast, plot, timeline, and release date theories

As the future of HBO remains uncertain, the citizens of Derry may have to wait a little longer for answers

Sundays won’t be the same without It: Welcome to Derry. The first season surpassed expectations to the point that the show's quality even rivals the two theatrical It films it's canonically connected to. The scares are more creative, the characters are all just as lovable, and Pennywise is even crueler to the children of Derry, Maine, in 1962 than he ever was to The Losers Club.

Welcome to Derry is also one of the darkest shows of 2025, fittingly premiering right around Halloween season and wrapping up by Christmastime, with Derry getting decidedly more snowy (and gruesome) in the season finale. But now that the fun is over and Pennywise is in hibernation for good this time (at least until he reemerges for It, you may be wondering when (and if) Welcome to Derry season 2 will arrive. There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the HBO show’s future (including the future of HBO itself during an increasingly messy sale of its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery), but while we wait for official confirmation, here’s everything we know about It: Welcome to Derry season 2.

Is It: Welcome To Derry season 2 confirmed?

Sorry to burst your bubble right off the bat, but the show hasn’t even been renewed yet. While Welcome to Derry had a strong start, that number quickly fell off in subsequent episodes. That said, it’s still the most-watched show on HBO Max. Meanwhile, reviews have been mixed but trending positive, with 80% of critics giving positive reviews and 76% of fans offering their stamp of approval (according to Rotten Tomatoes).

Welcome to Derry is also an expensive show, with the season 1 budget reportedly coming in at $75-80 million. That’s cheap compared to House of the Dragon (over $100 million for season 2), but still relatively expensive for horror, which tends to be a cheaper genre than fantasy and sci-fi.All that said, it’s still too soon to say for sure what will happen to Welcome to Derry, especially against the backdrop of the Warner sale. However, if we do get a season 2, we already have a pretty good sense of where the show is headed next.

What is the plot of It: Welcome To Derry season 2?

According to Entertainment Weekly, series co-creators Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs came to HBO with a very specific pitch: a trilogy of season-long stories built around Pennywise’s 27-year cycle of violence established in Stephen King’s original novel. Season 1 unfolds in 1962, precisely 27 years before the first movie. Expect each subsequent season to jump backward by another 27.

In an interview with Radio TU, Muschietti revealed that “season 1 is 1962, season two is 1935, and season three is 1908.” Each era is drawn from the original novel’s interludes, which chronicle an investigation by Mike Hanlon (Will Hanlon’s future son) into Derry’s gruesome past and the three major events linked to It.

Season 2 could also help solve a very specific mystery.

“And who was that kid that It was in the form of?” Welcome to Derry showrunner Jason Fuchs told Screen Rant. “I get that It took the form of that kid to lure Bob Gray into the woods, that tracks. But when we first see that kid, it’s before It has made the realization that he even wants to do that. So, what’s the story behind that manifestation? There are many fresh mysteries, I think, suggested by some of the answers to mysteries we provided in the season. And I hope that those mysteries are as satisfying to the next generation of It fans as the original mysteries in it were to me.”

The show has given just as many answers as it has new questions, which makes exploring the past an even more enticing journey — despite losing some of the series’ fan-favorite characters in the process.

Who will return to the cast of It: Welcome to Derry season 2?

Bill Skarsgård will be a recurring actor and remain the show’s biggest star, returning as Pennywise the Clown. But thanks to the creature’s shape-shifting nature, the iconic villain could skimp out on a majority of the season, as he did in season 1. We might also see more of Skarsgård as Bob Gray, before the Eldritch entity takes him over.

Despite there being a few characters that were able to escape Pennywise’s grasp, the series is planned as a three-season saga spanning different eras, so surviving characters from season 1 aren’t guaranteed to return.

That means our favorite young cast likely won’t be returning. It’s too bad, because their dynamic quickly became a highlight in every episode. I’d go one step further and say Richie and Marge are the best couple of 2025, despite how short-lived their romance was. Unfortunately, that means we won’t be seeing the Hanlons in season 2, either, since they were newcomers to Derry in 1962.

However, we might see a younger version of Ingrid Kersh or Hank Grogan since the story will take place in 1935. There’s even potential to see Kimberly Guerrero’s character, Rose, get more of the limelight in season

When could It: Welcome to Derry season 2 be released?

It’s tough to say for sure, but given the production schedule of season 1, we can venture a guess. Welcome to Derry, which got the greenlight in February 2023, and arrived 32 months later in October 2025. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait that long for season 2, especially if a script is already in development. Then again, the fact that the next season will require an entirely new cast and mostly new sets suggests a long wait. So it’s entirely possible we won’t return to Derry again until as late as 2028.