The terrifying saga of Pennywise the Dancing Clown returns with IT Chapter 3: Welcome to Derry (2024), a spine-chilling prequel that explores the origins of the malevolent entity that haunted the town of Derry, Maine for centuries. Directed by Andy Muschietti, the film delves deep into the history of Pennywise, offering fans a horrifying glimpse into the birth of one of cinema’s most iconic villains. Building on the success of IT Chapter 1 (2017) and IT Chapter 2 (2019), this new installment takes audiences back to the early 1900s to uncover the twisted roots of the terror that has plagued Derry for generations.
The trailer opens with an eerie, fog-covered street in Derry, Maine. It’s 1908, and the town is still small, but its foundations are already being built on something sinister. The camera pans across a newspaper headline: “Mysterious Disappearances Plague Derry.” Children’s laughter echoes in the distance, blending with unsettling whispers, as the screen fades into darkness.
A deep, foreboding voice narrates: “Before the Losers’ Club, before the sewers, there was something in Derry that never rested… a hunger that could never be satisfied.”
Quick flashes of disturbing images follow: a circus tent looming in the middle of a foggy field, a red balloon drifting through an empty street, and a pale, grinning face peeking out from the shadows. Audiences are then introduced to the first inhabitants of Derry who began to notice something deeply wrong in their town. A group of children, unaware of the fate awaiting them, follow the sounds of a distant carnival. Among them is a young boy, who stumbles upon the entrance to a dark sewer tunnel. “Come down here,” a voice beckons from the darkness. “We all float down here.”
Cut to chaos: children disappearing without a trace, parents frantically searching the streets, and the town slowly succumbing to an unknown evil. As tension builds, the trailer reveals the dark origins of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård reprising his terrifying role) and his emergence as an entity that feeds on fear. The horrifying circus scenes show a young Pennywise, working as a clown in Derry’s traveling carnival, before succumbing to something darker—transforming into the nightmare-inducing figure we know today.
The film also introduces a new cast of characters who attempt to unravel the mystery of the disappearances, led by a brave yet doomed group of townsfolk who uncover the truth about the creature hiding beneath the town. The trailer teases more unsettling moments of horror, including Pennywise’s growing influence over the town, his manipulative control over the children, and the cyclical curse that plagues Derry.
With quick cuts of frantic chases, terrifying encounters in the sewers, and unsettling imagery of Pennywise dancing in the shadows, the trailer builds to its climax with a chilling voiceover: “Fear has always lived here… and it always will.”
The screen cuts to black, and the title IT Chapter 3: Welcome to Derry emerges, followed by the release date: 2024. The final shot shows Pennywise’s infamous yellow eyes glowing in the darkness, followed by his chilling laugh that echoes as the screen fades.
IT Chapter 3: Welcome to Derry promises to be a dark and atmospheric journey into the early days of the malevolent force behind Derry’s long history of terror. With the familiar mix of psychological horror, jump scares, and disturbing visuals that made the first two films a success, this prequel aims to terrify a new generation while revealing the origins of the horror that has haunted audiences since Stephen King’s original novel.
Produced on a budget rumored to be around $80 million, IT Chapter 3 will feature high-end visual effects, immersive period settings, and the return of Bill Skarsgård’s terrifying portrayal of Pennywise. Fans can expect a chilling blend of historical horror, psychological terror, and heart-pounding suspense as they journey into the depths of Derry’s past, where the evil of Pennywise was born.
