'IT: Welcome to Derry' Season 2 Goes Back to 1935 to Reveal a Darker Chapter in Pennywise's History

IT: Welcome to Derry is officially returning for a second season, and the next chapter will travel even further into the disturbing history of Pennywise.

After exploring Derry in 1962, HBO is moving the action back to 1935, during the Great Depression, to uncover another bloody episode in the cursed Maine town.

The renewal confirms that the Stephen King prequel series will continue using its unusual reverse chronology to investigate the cycles of violence associated with the mysterious entity known as IT.

At the centre of Season 2 will be the infamous Bradley Gang massacre, an event with deep connections to Derry's supernatural past.

Developed by Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, Welcome to Derry expands the mythology previously explored on the big screen in IT and IT Chapter Two.

The first season was set 27 years before the story of the Losers Club and introduced another generation of children forced to confront the darkness lurking beneath their apparently ordinary hometown.

View this post on Instagram Crucially, Bill Skarsgård returned as Pennywise, creating a direct connection between the HBO production and Muschietti's successful film adaptations.

His presence also allowed the series to explore the terrifying creature beyond the events already familiar to audiences.

For IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2, the clock will turn back another 27 years.

The year is 1935, America is living through the Great Depression and the Bradley Gang arrives in Derry while looking to purchase ammunition.

Their presence eventually leads to a brutal massacre, but the violence surrounding the incident is connected to something much older and more sinister.

The event becomes another example of how Pennywise's influence appears repeatedly throughout Derry's history, leaving generations exposed to inexplicable cruelty, fear and tragedy.

Andy Muschietti had previously identified the Bradley Gang story as the defining event of this period.

Season 1 already included references to the massacre, effectively planting the seeds for the storyline that will now become central to the second instalment.