Send in the CLOWN

Stephen King's diabolical Pennywise terrifies the inhabitants of 1960s Maine in a prequel series

- By Sean Marland, Steven Perkins

NEW HORROR It: Welcome to Derry Monday, 9pm, Sky AtlanticThe shapeshifting alien entity best known as Pennywise the clown is one of the most terrifying creatures ever to come from the pen of horror maestro Stephen King.

So steel yourself for Sky Atlantic's new series It: Welcome to Derry, which takes us deeper into the monster's dark origin story.

Director Andy Muschietti, who helmed both the 2017 film adaptation, It, and its 2019 sequel It: Chapter Two, returns to direct this eight-part prequel series set in 1960s Maine, where the disappearance of a young boy coincides with the arrival of a demonic presence in the town of Derry that only a group of children seem to be aware of.

'There's a set of questions and enigmas that stem from the book and the movies that are addressed throughout the course of our story,' Muschietti tells TV&Satellite Week. 'If you go into the book, you will notice that some of the stories are resolved, but most of them are like a puzzle that has not been finished. That was the framework for us.'