monsters

A mutant killer baby. Lampshades and pickle jars that come alive. Sinister sewers. A demonic clown that preys on children.

HBO Max’s “It: Welcome to Derry,” the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s epic 1986 novel about a deadly clown named Pennywise, has already scared up a lot of buzz since its Oct. 26 premiere with its mix of evil events and nightmarish images.

The first episode featuring Robert Preston warning “Ya Got Trouble” via the classic musical “The Music Man” is an ominous introduction to the subsequent terrors. Gruesome sequences revolving around birth in the first two episodes will likely make several viewers cover their eyes. (The second episode drops Friday on HBO Max in time for Halloween, and it will air in its usual 9 p.m. PT Sunday slot on HBO.)

A prequel to 2017’s “It” and 2019’s “It: Chapter Two” — both directed by Andy Muschietti — the new drama is set in 1962 in the fictional small town of Derry, Maine. Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in the films, will reprise his role during the season.

The large ensemble of child actors and adults features several Black characters, including Air Force Maj. Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo); his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), a civil rights activist in a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat; and son Will (Blake Cameron James). Also featured is Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), the town’s theater projectionist, and his teen daughter Ronnie (Amanda Christine).

Developed by Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, the creators have prioritized increasing the intensity of the films. But the Muschietti siblings add that they are also incorporating certain messages into the mayhem. Many of the Black characters face bigotry and resistance in the predominantly white town that echo challenges that people of color currently face.

“Stephen is a master of weaving these issues into his stories, and it’s impossible to think of doing one of his stories without having that texture front and center,” Barbara Muschietti said.

The Muschiettis, in a video call, discussed diving deeper into the story of Pennywise, getting their young cast to act like kids from the 1960s, and what gives them nightmares. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Siblings Barbara Muschietti and Andy Muschietti on the set of HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.”

(Brooke Palmer / HBO)

How soon after the two “It” movies did the idea of a deeper dive into the world of Pennywise come about?

Andy Muschietti: The novel was the inspiration. There are all these enigmas still lingering, enigmas intentionally left unresolved in the book. Part of the greatness of the novel is that you finish 1,200 pages and at the end, you still have no idea what “It” is and what it wants. It’s all speculation. We had conversations with Bill about how great it would be to do an origin story of Bob Gray, this cryptic character, and give him the opportunity to play the human side, the man behind the clown. It’s about completing the puzzle and uniting the stories that lead one to another, creating a story with the final purpose of getting to this conclusive event, which is the creation of Pennywise, the incarnation of evil.

Barbara Muschietti: Once the idea start percolating, we got in touch with Mr. King and he loved the idea. At the beginning of the pandemic we went to (then-Warner Bros. TV chief) Peter Roth. He bought it in the room and we’ve been on it ever since. Not a day of rest.

“The Music Man” plays a prominent role in the first episode, and it gets dark pretty quickly. I’m a huge fan of that movie, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look at that joyful musical the same way again.

Andy Muschietti: I actually wanted us to create a musical ourselves that would pretend to be a movie from 1962. But we would have spent so much money and energy. So we started a quest for the right musical. “The Music Man” was made by Warner Bros. in 1962, and it’s about someone coming to a small town not unlike Derry, talking about trouble, trouble. And it just seemed to fit.

Barbara Muschietti: We also hope a lot of younger people will be curious and go see “The Music Man.”

What is the superpower of “It” that makes it a story that keeps giving and giving?

Andy Muschietti: There are a lot of things people connect to. One of them is childhood. Most of us cherish those years as being full of magic and imagination. We’ve all been children and we’ve all been afraid of something. The novel is a testament to the virtues of childhood, and those virtues normally disappear when you become an adult. Arguably the adults are always the enemy in the world of ‘It.’”

Apart from the clown, there’s a whole mythology that has yet to be connected. My purpose in this series is to reveal the iceberg under the water.

Black characters, including Hank (Stephen Rider), Ronnie (Amanda Christine), Leroy (Jovan Adepo) and Charlotte (Taylour Paige) play central roles in HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.” (Brooke Palmer / HBO)

You could not have planned the timing of the show coming on, but it seems like the topical issues addressed in this show, like bigotry, have a relevance to what’s going on in the country today.

Andy Muschietti: What’s going on is not new. It’s just found a new expression. It has been going on and on in cycles. We have this illusion that things are good, but around the corner is another dictator trying to come. We came from Argentina, and we don’t have the kind of racial tension that America has had for hundreds of years. Most of Stephen’s books are a song to empathy in general, and denouncing injustice everywhere. It is important to show, especially in an era where some people in the country are trying to delete history.

Barbara Muschietti: Sadly, these horrors keep haunting us, and racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia is still sadly a human condition, needing to find someone below you that you can punch. Yes, our history makes us a little more sensitive. We live in the United States, it’s a country we love, but it is surprising …

Andy Muschietti: Alarming.

Barbara Muschietti: … that more people are not more concerned.

Andy Muschietti: It’s the fog that Stephen King was talking about. People, basically out of fear, look the other way, trying to suppress things they see, and forget. It’s all part of the same reflection.

It’s immediately obvious that some horrific things will be happening in this show, even more so than the films. The imagery is really nightmarish.

Andy Muschietti: Being a shape-shifter is the thing which keeps giving and giving, and there was a clear intention for us to raise the volume of intensity. You need to meet the expectations of the audience — they don’t want to see more of the same. And we are also dealing with a different time when the collective fears were different because of the social and political situation of that era — the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis — was just around the corner. Then there’s social unrest and segregation.

Barbara Muschietti: I’d like to say it’s all very cathartic. We’re very nice people. I swear.

A demon baby birthed in Episode 1 is among the monsters seen in “Welcome to Derry.”

(HBO)

The show also has a great feel and look to it when it comes to depicting the 1960s.

Andy Muschietti: There was a lot of instinctive respect and attention to accuracy, aesthetically and spiritually. It was the true work of a team in every department, the same folks who had worked on the movies. There was also the research from the writers.

Most of the cast members are kids who did not live in that era. How do you communicate that era and feel to a young cast?

Andy Muschietti: There is a lot of talking. Stephen King knows a lot about this because he was a kid in the 1950s. The book is so rich in detail. We have Ben Perkins, who is a child actor coach. And there is imagination. These kids like to play and at this age, they thrive when you don’t put a lot of restrictions on them. The only thing that went overboard was the cursing.

Barbara Muschietti: That’s one thing that Stephen came back to us with. “There’s too many f—.” We also send the kids with Ben who basically sets up a camp — a bicycle riding camp, a swimming camp, stuff like that which kids in 2024 did not have access to. We’ve been doing that since 2016 very successfully. Because of all of this, all these kids have an incredible bond. They’re friends for life. They get to say goodbye to adolescence on our sets in the most beautiful way.

How long will you keep expanding the ”It” universe?

Andy Muschietti: It’s Derry, Derry, Derry all day. “Welcome” is an arc that expands over three seasons. Why is “It’” Derry, and why is Derry “It”? We will eventually reveal a bigger story revolving around the existence of Pennywise.

I have to ask — what gives you two nightmares? What is scary to you?

Barbara Muschietti: Fascism. Guns.

Andy Muschietti: Violence in general. We’ve come so far as a civilization, and it seems like we haven’t learned anything. What happened to empathy, and seeing what makes us similar, instead of things that divide us?

Barbara Muschietti: And love and respect.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the spooky newsletter for everyone who loves scares, thrills, tricks and treats.

Happy Halloween! Whether you plan to stay home or don a costume and hit the town, at some point this weekend, it’s worth putting on a movie or show to fit the theme of the season. The great thing is that there’s something for everyone, as our guide to Halloween programming shows. Whether you prefer something kid-friendly like “Is It Cake? Halloween” or something more sinister like the newly released HBO series “It: Welcome to Derry,” which expands Stephen King’s horror universe (more on that below), there’s plenty to choose from. And if you‘re in L.A., film editor Joshua Rothkopf and reporter Mark Olsen have compiled a guide to local theaters hosting screenings of classic horror films like “Black Sabbath” and “Bride of Frankenstein.” (If you can’t snag a ticket, their list also doubles as a great reference for films to watch at home, as many are available to stream.)

If that’s not enough, we have more recommendations that you can add to your queue, including a special episode of a (sadly) recently canceled Apple TV series and the pair of “It” films that led to the creation of “Welcome to Derry.” Additionally, Jovan Adepo, who plays Leroy Hanlon on the prequel series, which dropped its second episode on HBO Max in time for Halloween, spoke to us about some of the real-life themes of horror the show covers.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Rhea Seehorn stars in the new Apple TV series “Pluribus.”

(Anthony Avellano / For The Times)

To lead his next show, Vince Gilligan thought: Better call Rhea Seehorn: In his first series outside the “Breaking Bad” universe, Gilligan tapped Seehorn to play “the most miserable person on Earth” as the lead of Apple TV’s “Pluribus.”

In Rachel Sennott’s ‘I Love L.A.,’ Gen Z is desperate and difficult but very watchable: HBO’s new series about 20-somethings living in L.A. has some characters that are more trying than charming, but that’s part of its appeal.

Forget ‘I’m too old for this’: Women over 60 are redefining action stardom: The growing army of 60-ish women who kick ass, take names and rarely complain about getting too old for anything has been joined by Emma Thompson’s Zoë Boehm in “Down Cemetery Road” and the menopausal punk rockers of “Riot Women.”

Inside the ‘wild and weird’ rise of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ phenoms Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami hadn’t even met in person until the premiere of Netflix’s animated blockbuster. Now they’re taking the world by storm.

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Noel Fielding in Apple TV’s “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.”

(Apple)

“The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin: The Night of the Werebear” (Apple TV)

That this period comedy, on my best of 2024 list, failed to complete a second season is one of the great television tragedies of this year. (Star and co-creator Noel Fielding stopped showing up partway through production, reportedly due to health issues.) It has nevertheless left us this one extra, excellent, just-released Halloween-appropriate episode. A mysterious creature (see title) has been attacking coaches along the highway, leaving Dick (Fielding), the notorious English highwayman, and his motley crew without anything to rob. Although technically about a criminal, its hero is good-hearted — essentially a version of the Fielding one sees co-hosting “The Great British Baking Show” — and its approach to monsters trends more to understanding than horror. (A recommendation in itself.) Continuing in the All Hallows Eve spirit, you’ll find more paranormal doings in the series’ still-available first season, including witches, warlocks and a cursed coach. And you may want to carry on (and should) to its equally fine twin sister, “Renegade Nell” (Disney+) — another period supernatural comedy about an early 18th century highwayman (or woman, as the case may be), which adds a feminist twist. — Robert Lloyd

Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in “It: Chapter Two.”

(Brooke Palmer/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“It” and “It: Chapter Two” (HBO Max)

The Halloween season is in full swing, and there are few things more terrifying than a demonic clown with a red balloon. HBO has just launched “It: Welcome to Derry,” the prequel to “It” and “It: Chapter Two,” the recent hit film adaptations of Stephen King’s 1986 epic novel featuring Pennywise, the deadly clown who preys on children and adults. Co-created by Andy Muschietti, who directed the films and directs on the series, the drama is set in the early 1960s in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and takes on an even more nightmarish quality in delving into the origins of the notorious villain. Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in the films, reprises the role in “Derry.” Before more episodes are released, viewers should get their scare on by revisiting the films or watching them for the first time. The first film is particularly chilling, and Pennywise will give you the shivers. Be afraid. — Greg Braxton

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Jovan Adepo as Maj. Leroy Hanlon in HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.”

(Brooke Palmer / HBO)

The monster at the center of Stephen King’s “It” remains one of horror’s most terrifying figures. The author’s novel provided readers with the original tale of a group adolescents who battled a demonic clown, but it wasn’t until 1990 that we got an onscreen adaptation via the ABC miniseries that starred Tim Curry as the story’s terrifying villain, Pennywise. His devilish clown was merciless, preying on children and taunting them with bursts of blood, dead loved ones and a frightening set of sharp teeth. And while those things were scary, what made the adaptation horrifying was how it made mundane things like storm drains, old pipes and red balloons appear much more sinister.

Nearly two decades later, the feature films introduced a whole new generation to the terrors of “It,” and now with “Welcome to Derry,” we get a new story that adds more layers and aims to show who or what It really is. The HBO series, which will have a three-season arc, begins in 1962 with the story of the Hanlons, a Black military family that moves to Derry. The patriarch, Air Force Maj. Leroy Hanlon, played by Adepo, is a respected war hero who almost immediately has to battle a different kind of demon: bigotry. It’s a central theme and shows how “these horrors keep haunting us,” according to Barbara Muschietti, who alongside her brother Andy, spoke recently about the series to senior reporter Greg Braxton.

Adepo is no stranger to stories where race and bigotry are explored, having starred in series like Netflix’s “When They See Us,” a dramatization about the Central Park Five, and HBO’s “The Watchmen,” in which he played Hooded Justice. He stopped by Guest Spot this week to talk about the kinds of horrors “Welcome to Derry” portrays, what helped him unwind after filming and how he turns to a pair of TV comedies for comfort. — Maira Garcia

“It” has been adapted for the screen before. How familiar were you with King’s universe and “It” before taking on this role? Had you read the book or watched the films or miniseries?

I hadn’t read the book in the years before, but I was quite familiar with the recent two films, as well as the classic miniseries. Taking on the role of Leroy gave me a special opportunity to dive deeper into the lore and to also explore some of my own choices for how Leroy was portrayed.

“Welcome to Derry” begins by giving us some of the back story for Mike Hanlon’s family — a key character in “It.” In Episode 1, we’re introduced to your character, Leroy Hanlon, Mike’s grandfather, an Air Force major who encounters overt racism almost immediately when arriving on base in Derry. You’ve explored themes of race in previous roles — what was it like to explore it in the context of this show and the time period it’s set in, the ‘60s?

I think it’s the perfect lens through which to tell this story within the context of the era, because it adds another layer of life challenges for the Hanlons. It explores the struggle of dealing with prejudice and oppression among the members of the community, who are being tormented in a completely different way. That dynamic already creates an interesting environment that only deepens when you add the individual obstacles these characters face.

I’m compelled by an idea that this series brings forth: Monsters are terrifying, but the real world — with war, racism, genocide and so forth — is frightening enough. Did that resonate with you and your character at all?

Yes, in fact, I think that idea runs through the veins of a few characters here. I truly think this genre — and what Andy and Barb have brought to this season — beautifully showcases a very relatable experience of fear, one rooted in real historical moments and woven into a much more sensational element. Along with [co-showrunners Jason] Fuchs and [Brad Caleb] Kane, they’ve created space for viewers to connect with characters’ lives before the monster really begins to engage.

Working on such heavy material, how would you unwind after shoots?

I spent a lot of time at home recharging — watching films, exploring my neighborhood on walks with my dog, and so on. Building a routine of going shopping at the market, visiting my butcher shop, and going out to eat with my castmates was also quite relaxing. Most of us lived close to each other, so I saw everyone quite often.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I’m a creature of habit, so on my off days I usually recharge by watching previously released shows or films. I think the last thing I brought up in conversation on set was the HBO show “Animals” [HBO Max].

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

Oh, man. Comfort watching, to me, is something I can put on in the background after a long day on set. I’d have to give it to “Family Guy” [Hulu] or “The Office” [Peacock].

READ MORE >> ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ will satisfy fans of horror and of Stephen King’s deadly clown

Over the course of her three-decade career, Chloë Sevigny has built an eclectic résumé playing complex women whom she describes as “the moral compass” or “the salt of the earth” in a story.

But in the second season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monsters,” which reexamines the story of the Menendez family for a new generation, Sevigny plays the role of victim and villain in equal measure. An unflinching exploration of abuse and privilege, the Netflix limited series reconsiders the lives of Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik Menendez (Cooper Koch), who were convicted in the 1989 killing of their wealthy parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Mary Louise a.k.a. Kitty (Sevigny).

“The most challenging part was that each episode was a different person’s idea of her, so I had to switch gears as to who I think she was to serve the way that they were telling the story,” Sevigny says. “I’ve never had to do that before, and as an actor, you want to find the truth of the character, and then there was, of course, not one singular truth to her. And plus, nobody really knows what happens.”

After working together on two seasons of “American Horror Story” and then “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” Sevigny received a call from Murphy, who felt strongly that she should play the mysterious Menendez matriarch.

“From the very get-go, he pitched me having this opus kind of episode, where I get to really examine alcoholism and abuse and a lot of complicated issues that people don’t necessarily like to face,” Sevigny says of the sixth episode, which chronicles José and Kitty’s relationship against the backdrop of family therapy sessions. “I think that’s not how we justify doing these kinds of [true-crime stories], but we hope that they can give someone the courage to speak out if they are in a position where they’re being mistreated.”

Sevigny with Javier Bardem in “Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.”

(Netflix)

As one of New York’s “It” girls of the ’90s, Sevigny barely spent any time at home watching television, but she still remembers seeing photographs of the Menendez brothers during their murder trials on the front pages of newsstands. In preparation for the part, Sevigny revisited the era. She read writer Dominick Dunne’s buzzy Vanity Fair stories about the trials. She read a few books about Kitty’s upbringing, which revealed her history of self-medicating. She even watched the brothers’ trial testimony, in which they alleged that José had sexually abused them as children.

At a Vanity Fair party, Sevigny met a director whose wife had been close friends with Kitty and claimed that Kitty had genuinely loved her children. But while “Monsters” offers a brief glimpse of maternal love at the very end, the series as a whole takes a decidedly different approach.

“There were aspects of the character that I tried to lean into that I thought, ‘Oh, you don’t often see a mother complain about her children in the way that she does, like, “I hate my kids. They ruined my life.”’ There are certain things that you never, or rarely, see on TV,” Sevigny says. What was more difficult for her to wrap her head around was the thought of a mother who is willfully blind to child abuse: “What kind of person does that, and how do you access that kind of emotion, or the strength, for lack of a better word, or the cowardice to behave in that way in those certain situations?

(Larsen&Talbert / For The Times)

“The series is also an examination of the cycles of abuse and how hard it is for people to break out of those cycles,” adds Sevigny, who found it easy to act frightened when confronted with Bardem’s high intensity. “She had been abused, and her mother had been abused by her father. Her mother left her father, and she was raised without a dad. I think that can often be a reason for women to stay with their husbands because they think, ‘Oh, maybe just having a father around outweighs the abuse,’ which is not true, obviously.”

“Monsters” has not been without controversy, however. Last September, Erik publicly criticized the series for its inaccuracies and for implying an incestuous relationship between him and Lyle. (Erik has formed a bond with Koch, with whom he has remained in touch, and Lyle has since commended the series for helping viewers understand the long-term effects of child abuse.)

“The Netflix team had given us all these talking points, and we were supposed to stay very disengaged [from the brothers] — and Cooper did not listen to them,” Sevigny recalls with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Wow, this young boy, this is his first [big] thing, and he’s coming out the gate just speaking his mind.’ Being a woman and an actress, and growing up in the ’90s, we were all silenced and muzzled in a way, so it’s interesting to watch these young people have the agency and advocacy to speak up for themselves.”

In May, the brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life in prison, which makes them eligible for parole. Sevigny is no stranger to being part of zeitgeisty shows, having played one of the wives of a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon in HBO’s “Big Love” around the time that Warren Jeffs was convicted of child sexual assault: “You want to make art, hopefully, that gets people talking and engaged, and I think [‘Monsters’] has done that to the umpteenth.”

Sevigny found out that she had been nominated for her first Emmy while driving to the airport in Los Angeles, where she has been shooting Peacock’s “The Five-Star Weekend” opposite Jennifer Garner. The actor ultimately sees the show’s 11 total nominations as an acknowledgment of Murphy’s enduring creative vision.

“I respect all the diverse shows that he makes, and that he hires the same actors, artisans and craftsmen over and over. To validate his choice in me for that part also felt really important, because I think that he sticks his neck out for people a lot,” says Sevigny, who celebrated the achievement with a small Champagne toast during her flight back to New York. “The kinds of stories that he’s trying to tell are often challenging and people shy away from them, and the work that he does is important. And now maybe he’ll hire me again!”