IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2 shifts to a 1930s gangster horror drama
HBO's "IT: Welcome to Derry" is getting a major genre makeover for its second season. According to a report from Collider, the upcoming season will ditch the show's nostalgic, kid-focused 1962 setting for a gritty 1930s gangster story.
The shift is part of a planned three-season arc from director Andy Muschietti, per the outlet. Muschietti told Variety the show would explore Pennywise's three critical cycles in 1962, 1935, and 1908. Season 2 will focus on the 1935 era, pivoting from Cold War suburbia to the poverty and desperation of the Great Depression.
Season 2's plot will center on the Bradley Gang, a group of violent gangsters only briefly mentioned in Stephen King's original novel. The story will follow these suited criminals carrying Tommy guns, a far cry from the child protagonists of the first season or the films.
Muschietti emphasized to Variety that the new characters are people who will do anything to survive, making their fear ripe for Pennywise to exploit. The show will reportedly explore how these hardened gangsters handle an otherworldly, fear-eating entity.
The outlet notes that while the first season worked with its unpredictable subplots, this genre shift to a horror-crime drama could keep the series from becoming a parody of itself. The Bradley Gang is positioned as a source of fear initially bigger than the shapeshifting clown.
