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The sinister presence of Pennywise, portrayed by Bill Skarsgård, makes a chilling return to our screens with the HBO Original series, IT: Welcome to Derry. This supernatural horror series acts as a prequel to the 2017 movie It, delving deeper into the haunting world originally crafted by Stephen King in his iconic 1986 novel.
Set against the backdrop of 1962, the series follows Major Leroy (played by Jovan Adepo) and his wife Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige), who relocate to Derry, Maine, with their young son, Will (Blake Cameron James), due to Leroy’s military assignment. Their arrival coincides with the mysterious disappearance of local boy Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt), an event that may be linked to the ominous reawakening of Pennywise.
As the Hanlons navigate the challenges of their peculiar new environment, local children Teddy (Mikkal Karim Fidler), Phil (Jack Molloy Legault), Lilly (Clara Stack), Ronnie (Amanda Christine), and Susie (Matilda Legault) embark on a quest to find Matty. They hold onto the hope that he is still alive and sending out enigmatic cries for help. Amidst their search, Pennywise reemerges, unleashing a new wave of terror and chaos across Derry.
While only a handful of episodes are currently available, leaving much of the storyline shrouded in mystery, viewers can anticipate a gripping narrative filled with intense moments, gruesome scenes, and the signature scares that Pennywise is known for. Although the specifics of the plot remain under wraps, one certainty about IT: Welcome to Derry is its captivating filming locations.
Here’s a comprehensive look at where IT: Welcome to Derry was filmed.
Where was IT: Welcome to Derry filmed?
While the setting of IT: Welcome to Derry is Derry, Maine, the specific town itself was one invented by Stephen King when he wrote It. King drew inspiration for Derry from his own hometown of Bangor, Maine, but HBO’s new show was never filmed there, nor in New England, nor even in the United States.
Instead, IT: Welcome to Derry was filmed in multiple locations across Canada, around various places in the province of Ontario. In May 2023, principal photography began in Toronto, Port Hope, and Hamilton. The show uses some of the same filming locations as the 2017 and 2019 It movies, once again using spots in Port Hope to depict many external locations in the town of Derry, specifically Walton Street, where you can see the outside of Derry’s various businesses and homes.
In Hamilton, Ontario, Delta Secondary School was transformed to become Derry High. Although the school permanently shut down in 2019, its building has remained since 1925, making it a great spot to film titles set in any decade of the last century. In addition to IT: Welcome to Derry, Delta Secondary School also recently served as a shooting location for the Netflix slasher movie Fear Street: Prom Queen, which takes place in the year 1988.
One of the other main locations for the making of IT: Welcome to Derry was Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario, serving as the stand-in for the Derry Air Forces Base that Major Hanlon now calls home. Beyond that, additional studio work and scenes were shot in Toronto.
Witness all of these locations for yourself and see the fictional town of Derry come to life by tuning into IT: Welcome to Derry as episodes drop weekly on Sundays between now and December 14 at 9 pm ET, only on HBO Max.
