‘It: Welcome to Derry’ – 2025’s Stephen King Resurgence Just Added Its Crowning Achievement

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2025 has been a huge year for movies and shows based on the works of Stephen King, and HBO’s newest series is being hailed as the best adaptation yet. King is one of the most frequently adapted authors ever, with over 100 film and television projects based on his novels. While his books are generally popular, the quality of these adaptations has varied greatly. Some, like The Shining and The Shawshank Redemption, are considered classics, while others, such as The Dark Tower, haven’t fared so well.

Stephen King has remained popular for almost sixty years, and his work has consistently been adapted into films since Brian De Palma’s Carrie in 1976. What’s happening now isn’t a comeback for King himself, but rather a surge in the quality and number of adaptations of his stories. 2025 has already brought us several highly-regarded projects, including Oz Perkins’ The Monkey, Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk, MGM+’s The Institute, and the new HBO series, It: Welcome to Derry.

‘It: Welcome to Derry’ is the Best Stephen King Adaptation of the Year


HBO

Though only one episode has aired, Welcome to Derry already shows it will deliver the high quality viewers expect from HBO, offering both thrilling franchise content and a sophisticated story. As a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s It films, the series draws from one of Stephen King’s most beloved tales, but you don’t need to have seen the movies to enjoy it.

Recent Stephen King adaptations have come from talented and experienced filmmakers. Ozgood Perkins, known for the horror film Longlegs, Francis Lawrence, who directed The Hunger Games, and Mike Flanagan, who has already adapted Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep (with plans for Carrie and The Dark Tower), have all tackled King’s work. Despite this, none of these adaptations have been universally praised by critics.

Early reactions to the series Welcome to Derry aren’t overwhelmingly positive, but it’s only the first episode, and the town of Derry clearly has more to reveal. The premiere successfully captured the enduring appeal of Derry and the characters Stephen King created in It. The show portrays a town that’s both charming and beautiful, yet constantly haunted by a lurking darkness that disrupts everyday life.

While Edgar Wright’s The Running Man might be a strong contender, the longer format of Welcome to Derry is a better fit for Stephen King’s storytelling. It is a huge novel, and the previous movies, despite their success, only explored a small part of its rich content. This TV series, even though it focuses on parts of the story outside the main book, truly captures the spirit of Stephen King’s masterpiece.

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2025-10-29 05:08