9-Episode HBO Max Sci-Fi Series Delivers A Masterclass In Mixing Genres

While a lot of Stephen King’s work mixes genres with wild abandon, one HBOMax series set a new standard when it comes to this particular adaptation trend. There is an anecdote that horror legend Stephen King loves to tell about a time when an aggrieved reader asked him why he couldn’t write a nice, uplifting story, only to then use The Shawshank Redemption as an example.

When King pointed out that he had, in fact, written The Shawshank Redemption, the reader refused to believe him, insisting that he was only known for horror stories. As funny as the story is, it highlights the double bind that Stephen King adaptations like the upcoming Dark Tower series fall into. King is the biggest living name in US horror literature, but that means he’s almost exclusively associated with the horror genre.

In reality, even though King’s debut novel Carrie has been made into numerous major movies and shows, the author has a far broader and more versatile back catalog than readers might assume. King has penned fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller novels, while the last decade and a half has seen him focus primarily on hard-boiled crime mysteries. Fortunately, HBOMax’s deservedly acclaimed It spinoff Welcome to Derry highlights this versatility perfectly.

It: Welcome to Derry Is A Sci-Fi Show And A Horror Story

Set in the titular hometown of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Welcome to Derry flashes back almost three decades before 2017’s It to tell the tale of another group of unfortunate suburban kids who come across the evil entity. Like It, Welcome to Derry season 1 explores the lives of its young protagonists and their small town struggles in depth even before the monster comes calling.

As such, It: Welcome to Derry functions as a sweet, melancholic coming-of-age character drama, even though frequent appearances by Pennywise ensure the show is a horror series first and foremost. Then, as It: Welcome to Derry’s Pennywise gains a bigger role in the series, the show takes on a sci-fi subplot as Leroy Hanlan, an Air Force Major recently deployed to Derry, learns about the town’s shadowy history.

The secret military experiments of season 1 leaned into this sci-fi conspiracy angle, as the army tried to work out what Pennywise was and how to weaponize its ancient evil effectively. Like its ambitious, complex source material, It: Welcome to Derry is a horror story at its core but exists in a sci-fi context. This has only become more obvious after October 2026’s bonus episode, a Halloween special that explored Derry’s history.

It: Welcome to Derry’s “A Story of Derry” Opens Up Stephen King’s Universe

Like Netflix’s recent monster show Below, which carried a pretty significant Stephen King influence in its tone and story, It: Welcome to Derry’s special “A Story of Derry” offered a more scientific explanation for its monster that didn’t do anything to sap the entity of its fear factor. The episode sees Pennywise, then known as Tha Galloo, accost a group of Native American people who must learn to defend themselves from its attacks.

Near the end of the special, one of the surviving Native American characters uses astral projection to communicate with Maturin, the cosmic turtle that vomited the entire known universe into existence in the lore of Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga. Maturin shows the protagonist how to contain the entity, leaving the tribe relatively safe until white invaders destroy the cage they built for Pennywise.

While It: Welcome to Derry is still primarily a horror series, the Lovecraftian mythos of “A Story of Derry” proves that the show has cosmic stakes, and underlines its obvious sci-fi influences in the process. This is a welcome change that opens up the world of the Stephen King show and makes It: Welcome to Derry feel bigger, bolder, and more ambitious than ever.