Warner Bros' 2017 adaptation of It, one of Stephen King's best and most essential stories, proved to be an enormous hit and a new box office benchmark for R-rated horror. Both the book and the film tell the tale of a young group of outcasts who call themselves The Losers' Club. The kids live in the town of Derry, Maine, where children often disappear to the clutches of a shape-shifting monster known as Pennywise and the adults are often monsters in their own right.

The 2017 film helped usher in a Stephen King renaissance of sorts, with a slew of equally as excellent adaptations of his works coming out around the same time as well as plenty of original films and series that take obvious inspiration from and pay homage to the writer. Today, King fans can still prepare to sink their teeth into an upcoming adaptation of Salem's Lot, as well as the surprising announcement that a prequel series to It is in the works over at HBO Max.

HBO Max is all about spin-offs at the moment. Peacemaker has proven to be a hit for the streaming service and spin-offs for The Batman as well as a prequel series for Game of Thrones are very likely to bring in huge numbers. Welcome to Derry, the supposed titled for the It prequel series, will explore the origin of Pennywise and why the monster has terrorized the town for so long (isn't it just hungry?) while leading into the events of the film.

The series will have the rare opportunity to expand well beyond the confines of the source material to hopefully deliver something fresh yet just as terrifying. Hulu found similar success with Castle Rock, an original series that took names and places from King's universe but told its own stories that mixed them all together. Welcome to Derry is still in early development, so it's unknown when we can expect a premiere date or if Bill Skarsgård might be reprising his role as Pennywise.