The red balloons have burst into Derry’s nightmares as HBO’s IT: Welcome to Derry officially premiered last night, October 26, 2025, ushering viewers back to the cursed Maine town in a prequel that peels open the grotesque origins of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The nine-episode supernatural horror series, a direct offshoot of the 2017 and 2019 blockbuster films that raked in over $1.1 billion globally, kicked off with Episode 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO, followed by an immediate drop on Max for streaming – HBO’s fortress platform. Developed by the Muschietti siblings (Andy and Barbara, the architects of the cinematic Losers’ Club terror), the show sets its fangs in 1962, exploring the entity’s ancient hunger and the town’s festering complicity in child murders every 27 years. But for Netflix’s vast army of 80 million U.S. subscribers hoping to binge this Stephen King chiller alongside Stranger Things or The Fall of the House of Usher, the frustration boils over: No clown sightings on the red N anytime soon, with a potential arrival not until mid-to-late 2027, thanks to HBO’s ironclad exclusivity that’s got fans venting louder than a sewer echo.

The debut was a textbook HBO flex. “The Black Spot,” the opener, aired live on the network before hitting Max at midnight, launching a weekly Sunday ritual through December 28 – no full-season dump here, just the slow-drip dread that defines prestige TV. HBO’s model, honed on hits like The Last of Us and The White Lotus, builds buzz through watercooler dissection and social spikes, and Welcome to Derry delivered: The episode trended No. 1 on X within hours, with 2.5 million posts by 11 p.m., fans dissecting Pennywise’s grotesque new forms and the episode’s gut-wrenching opener – a ritualistic elder slaying etched with ochre symbols. “This isn’t just scares; it’s a gut-punch to Derry’s soul,” HBO programming chief Francesca Orsi told Variety post-premiere, crediting the 15 million trailer views since September 23 for the hype. International sync-up is tight: Sky and NOW in the UK, Crave in Canada, HBO feeds across Europe and Asia – but Netflix? Zilch. Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO’s overlord, treats this $120 million beast (roughly $13 million per episode) as subscriber catnip, with no licensing crumbs tossed to competitors.

Netflix’s drought on Welcome to Derry fits a grim pattern for HBO holdouts. Expect a 18-24 month freeze post-finale, landing sometime in mid-to-late 2027 if a deal ever surfaces – a timeline baked into WBD’s playbook since the 2022 Max rebrand. Look at House of the Dragon Season 1 (HBO 2022): Still Max-locked after three years, no Netflix whiff. The Last of Us Season 1 (January 2023) didn’t surface until late 2024, a 22-month haul. Succession‘s finale (2023) trickled over in 2025, two years later. “No rush to rivals – exclusivity pays the bills,” a WBD source spilled to The Hollywood Reporter in July 2025, underscoring how these delays pad ad revenue and global subs (Max crossed 100 million this quarter). Netflix, a poacher of prestige, has nabbed HBO classics like The Sopranos and The Wire, but fresh series? HBO guards them like Derry’s storm drains. A Netflix mouthpiece confirmed to Deadline yesterday, “We’re eyeing premium adds, but partners call the shots on timing.” Fan revolt’s brewing: A Change.org plea for Derry on Netflix topped 125,000 signatures by this morning, with X rants like “HBO hoarding King – let us binge the beast!” hitting 3 million impressions.

This platform purgatory hits harder in King’s sprawling empire, where his works hopscotch like Pennywise’s forms. The 1990 Tim Curry miniseries lurks forever on Netflix, a campy clown classic for retro chills. The 2017/2019 films, helmed by Andy Muschietti, cycle seasonally (now on Max, but they’ve danced to Netflix before). Doctor Sleep (2019) haunts Peacock. But Welcome to Derry, HBO’s fresh-baked nightmare, demands the full arc – serialized sins with no standalone eps, a format Netflix craves but can’t cop yet. “It’s HBO’s feast for now,” Orsi quipped to Axios last week, framing the wait as part of the terror’s tease.

Welcome to Derry earns its dread cred from the jump. Shot in Portland, Maine, January to June 2025, the pilot deploys practical effects for Pennywise’s elongated horrors – balloon-pop gore, sewer chases that rival The Conjuring‘s jolts – all in a $10 million-per-ep polish that nods to the book’s body politic. “We’re unearthing the mythos,” Andy Muschietti shared with Entertainment Weekly in August, spotlighting the 1958 Black Spot fire, a racist massacre birthing the clown’s modern menace. The 1962 frame weaves generational trauma and settler sins, with the Muschiettis crediting Indigenous consultants for rituals tying Pennywise to ancient spirits – a Hillerman-esque layer from King’s Four Corners nods.

Skarsgård, 34, claws back as Pennywise with “feral menace minus the whimsy,” per Jovan Adepo, who plays a young Mike Hanlon’s grandfather, a vet decoding the entity’s cosmic rot. Adepo (Watchmen) anchors the lore, Taylour Paige (Zola) steels up as a nurse in the child hunts, Chris Chalk (Perry Mason) haunts as sheriff, and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Picard) schemes as exec. Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) digs uranium dirt as journalist, Tayme Thapthimthong elders as tribal voice. “Diversity’s the dread’s spine,” Barbara Muschietti told The Wrap in July.

Pilot buzz? A screening nailed 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, IndieWire dubbing it “creeping dread mastered,” Vulture lauding Skarsgård’s “evolved fuel.” The Black Spot opener – ochre-etched elder slaying – sets a tone of “horror with history,” per showrunner Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman) at the September TCA. A June 2025 writers’ strike delayed from fall, but the extra sheen gleams in the trailer’s balloon swarm.

HBO’s horror streak – post-The Penguin‘s 2024 smash – parks Welcome to Derry pre-The Madison (2026), Emmy-bait with King’s Turtle cameo. Merch: Balloon hoodies, Derry globes at Hot Topic; Derry Diaries podcast with Adepo drops weekly. X’s #WelcomeToDerry surged 1.8 million posts, hype clashing with Netflix salt (“HBO’s clowning us!”).

For Netflix diehards, stopgaps: Curry’s miniseries for camp, films for sewer epics. But the arcs crave weekly dread. Tonight’s launch – 9 p.m. – ignites; Netflix, your Derry detour’s 2027. Float or fidget; the clown’s patient.