The massive success of Stranger Things is finally coming to an end with season 5, which is expected to debut on the streaming service later in 2025.
Stranger Things’ formula has been seen more commonly in the time since its premiere, and has found success in some new horror and sci-fi adaptations of stories that originally inspired the Netflix series. One often-cited influence on Stranger Things has been the work of horror master Stephen King, whose stories like Firestarter, Carrie, IT, and The Body lent inspiration to the teens’ dark experiences and dynamics. Those influences are ironically coming full circle now, as HBO’s TV adaptation of Stephen King’s IT novel looks like it’s taking a page from Stranger Things’ book.
IT: Welcome To Derry Feels Like A Much More Horror-Centric Stranger Things-Style Show
Stranger Things Is Already Partially Influenced By Stephen King's Original IT Book
After the release of ’s story, characters, and tone seem to be setting up a great new teen-centered horror show in the same vein as Stranger Things.
Like Stranger Things, IT: Welcome to Derry appeals to a nostalgic horror approach, though with season 1 being set in the 1960s rather than the 1980s. Rather than battling Demogorgons, Mind Flayers, and Vecna, IT: Welcome to Derry’s teen characters will be going up against the various forms of Bill Skarsgård’s nightmare-inducing villain Pennywise the Clown. However, while Hawkins, Indiana has become home to some terrifying evils in connection to the Upside Down, that fictional location doesn’t hold a candle to the horrors and darkness that plague Derry, Maine.
IT: Welcome to Derry is still on a more intense level of scares and terror.
While Stranger Things season 4 leaned into more horror aspects than the show’s previous outings, IT: Welcome to Derry is still on a more intense level of scares and terror. IT: Welcome to Derry won’t feature as much action, sci-fi, or comedy as Stranger Things, and instead will be more comparable to the Henry Creel-based horror elements of season 4. Also similar to Stranger Things season 4, there will be some shocking disappearances and deaths of children around the small town, with a group of teens taking the lead on their own investigation as they bike around the streets.
The IT Franchise Already Has A Big Stranger Things Connection
Finn Wolfhard Has Starred In Both
IT: Welcome to Derry’s connections to Stranger Things don’t just top at the aesthetic, premise, and Stephen King inspirations – the franchises also share a notable cast member. Finn Wolfhard, who has portrayed Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things’ cast for all five seasons, also starred in IT (2017) and IT: Chapter Two (2019) as Richie Tozier. IT was Wolfhard’s very first feature film role, having debuted in theaters just a little over a month before Stranger Things season 2 returned on Netflix.
Title |
Finn Wolfhard Character |
|---|---|
Stranger Things |
Mike Wheeler |
It & It: Chapter Two |
Richie Tozier |
The IT movies’ success was doubtlessly aided by the popularity of Stranger Things, and the overlapping cast member certainly didn’t hurt the Stephen King movies’ appeal. Since Welcome to Derry season 1 is set 27 years before the first IT movie’s timeline, Wolfhard’s Richie won’t show up in the prequel series, nor will the other of the Losers Club. However, Welcome to Derry does share a link to Loser Club member Mike Hanlon, as the series is based on the novel’s interludes he wrote during his investigation into Derry’s dark history.
IT: Welcome To Derry's 3-Season Plan Means It Should Continue Long After Stranger Things Ends
IT: Welcome To Derry Could Have A Long Life On HBO
While IT: Welcome to Derry is confirmed to debut on HBO in fall 2025, the series has yet to receive an official release date. That’s also the case for Stranger Things season 5, which Netflix teased would arrive in 2025, but has yet to be given a more specific release window for this year. As such, it’s possible that IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 and Stranger Things season 5 will release within close succession of one another, especially with the former dropping new episodes weekly rather than all at once.
However, IT: Welcome to Derry is expected to stick around long after Stranger Things’ impending series finale. When revealing Pennywise’s attacks occur every 27 years, the plan is for season 1 to focus on the catastrophic event in 1962, season 2 to unfold in 1935, and season 3 to take place in 1908.
Welcome To Derry's Future Plans Show How It Can Solve A Huge Pennywise Origin Mystery
Welcome To Derry has plans for two more seasons, and if it happens, season 3 can solve a huge Pennywise origin mystery left by It Chapter Two.
If IT: Welcome to Derry earns two more seasons, then the show will be able to carry on for several more years as a great replacement in the TV landscape for Stranger Things. Once the latter ends, Wednesday seems to be the proper teen horror show successor on Netflix, though IT: Welcome to Derry has a much more similar tone and premise to the Duffer Brothers’ series.
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Stranger Things
8/10- Release Date
- 2016 - 2025-00-00
- Showrunner
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
- Directors
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
WHERE TO WATCH
StreamingInspired by 80s pop-culture and elements of Stephen King's works, Stranger Things is a supernatural action-drama TV series set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.
When a young boy goes missing, his group of friends stumbles upon a young girl with telekinetic powers who recently escaped from a mysterious facility. They soon realize that she may be their only chance at stopping an impending doom that threatens to engulf Hawkins whole. -
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It: Welcome to Derry
- Release Date
- 2025
- Network
- HBO
- Directors
- Andy Muschietti
Cast
Pennywise
Jovan Adepo
IT: Welcome to Derry is a prequel set in the 1960s that explores the origins of Pennywise the Clown. The narrative delves into the early events in Derry, Maine, providing a backdrop to the terror later depicted in the film adaptations of Stephen King's novel, IT.
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