Hollywood just can't keep a good clown down. After 2017's box office smash It and its follow-up It: Chapter Two, HBO Max and Warner Bros. Television are looking to float back to Derry for a prequel series. With the working title of Welcome to Derry, the show will reportedly begin in the 1960s and lead up to the events of the first film. But what's even more intriguing is that the story is also rumored to weave in the origins of Pennywise, the clown form of the shape-shifting interdimensional being from the films and Stephen King's novel. It's an alluring concept, both for audiences and, apparently, studio executives, but there's an argument to be made for keeping Pennywise's origins a mystery — and forgoing an It prequel altogether.
It: Chapter Two made a solid case for its existence rather than being an unnecessary extension of the franchise. Instead, it covers the crucial second half of King's novel where the now adult Losers return to Derry to once again face off against Pennywise after his 27-year hibernation. But anyone who has seen both films or read the novel knows that the Losers' quest is complete.
Although their lives go on after the events of the story, there's no organic plot left to include in a prequel series. Sure, there could be another group of Derry kids (or adults) who fought to defeat Pennywise prior to the Losers, but does their story matter if we know the outcome — that Pennywise is ultimately defeated?
The beating heart of the films is the Losers' Club, something that comes directly from King's source material. Between touching moments of comforting Bill over Georgie's death or rallying together to console Beverly after an encounter with Pennywise in her home, the Losers transcend their place on the screen (and page) and manage to feel like real people. Even with a new group of friends to take up the Pennywise resistance, the magic that made the story sing, the kids so relatable, and the antagonist so frightening, comes directly from King's words and imagination. Trying to recreate the story's spellbinding feel by playing in King's playground runs the risk of not only seeming like a poor imitation, but also being repetitive by giving us more of the story beats we're already familiar with from the first two films.
Pennywise's origins are briefly explored in both the book and It: Chapter Two, where it's revealed that he is a being that crash-landed on Earth from another dimension hundreds of years ago. It's a brief segment that leaves much to the imagination, which is just how it should be since there's not enough meat on the story's bones to justify expanding or stretching Pennywise's backstory to fill another feature or the reported series. Sure, it raises some questions — Where exactly is Pennywise is from? What is his homeland like? Are there more beings like him? — but they're questions and plot threads that are more fun to speculate rather than necessitating interpretation on screen, especially because Pennywise's aura of mystery and unpredictability is part of what makes him scary.
The novel does feature some interludes that give glimpses of Pennywise throughout Derry's history that were not included in the film. However, jumping back in time to explore these periods of Pennywise's early pursuits and feeding cycles robs the audience of the heart, soul, and humor that came with the interactions and genuine affection among Bill, Richie, Bev, and the rest of the Losers. We know that this group of outsiders is vulnerable, that they have deep fears and traumas, and this is exactly why the story works. Whether it's Bev's abuse at the hands of her father, Bill's grief at losing Georgie, or Eddie's fear of disease, Pennywise is scary exactly because he threatens to exploit their extremely personal fears in order to corrupt the love, joy, and innocence of the young (and young at heart) characters we love so much. If the Losers are eliminated from the story, as it seems the series is poised to do, Pennywise runs the risk of terrorizing characters to which the audience does not have a pre-existing emotional attachment, making him slightly less frightening. And if America's favorite dancing clown is reduced to a vanilla horror movie villain, well...that might be the scariest thing of all.
Although Welcome to Derry certainly seems intriguing, it might be best to forgo the temptation of expanding the It universe entirely. There's just not enough organic story left to tell without repeating what audiences have seen before. Not to mention that Pennywise is at his most captivating (and scariest) when he is directly affecting the Losers and kept shrouded in mystery. By taking him away from the Losers and giving us a focused insight into his origins and backstory, Pennywise risks losing his bite.