While there’s been no official HBO confirmation that It: Welcome to Derry is returning, the show’s popularity means more is all but guaranteed. Two of the show’s main architects, sibling team Andy and Barbara Muschietti, have long spoken about moving backward in time for the next Welcome to Derry season (or seasons), in keeping with Pennywise’s 27-year hibernation cycle.
More recently, Andy Muschietti honed in on the stories they hope to explore (yep, it’s 1930s gangsters). And now, the Muschiettis have said a little more about the themes they’re planning on digging into.
Speaking to Indiewire, the duo looked back at season one and acknowledged how much its tone mirrors the political climate of today, despite being set very specifically during the Cold War.
“We live in a time where fearmongering is practiced a lot,” Andy Muschietti said. “People should know that it’s a construction—not everything that comes from ‘up there’ is true. It’s orchestrated to divide us and make us fear each other for profit.”
That outlook was mirrored in It: Welcome to Derry‘s first season. Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) emerges to terrorize the kids in Derry, and we hear a lot about how he feeds on the fear he generates. That’s why the military summons Major Hanlon (Jovan Adepo), newly recovered from a head injury that diminished his ability to feel fear, to work on a special project with General Shaw (James Remar).
As we learn by the end of the season, Shaw wants to capture Pennywise so he can literally weaponize the clown’s ability to inspire fear; his ultimate goal is to make all of America more obedient and compliant. (It doesn’t end well for Shaw.)
And as Muschietti himself says, the whole theme of season one was “the weaponization of fear.” However, that will expand in the future to include “the weaponization of faith” and “the weaponization of love.”
Exactly how that will play into It: Welcome to Derry‘s storytelling remains to be seen, but with Pennywise in the mix—and current events being what they are—you can expect fear will still play a big part.
“We are living in a world where the weaponization of fear is something that has to be fought daily,” Barbara Muschietti told Indiewire. “If we are not aware, and if we don’t fight it, we will succumb like Derry.”
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
