David Bridges
At a glance
- Viewership: The Welcome to Derry premiere attracted 5.7 million viewers within three days.
- Ranking: It is the third-largest series debut in HBO’s history, following House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.
- Timing: The episode’s release coincided with Halloween, enhancing its appeal.
- Response: The show’s bloody ending generated significant discussion online.
HBO’s genre dramas are often a big deal, and so far, Welcome to Derry is no exception.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, the first episode of the It prequel amassed 5.7 million cross-platform viewers over three days. It’s the third-biggest series debut in HBO history, coming behind the pilots for 2022’s House of the Dragon and The Last of Us in 2023. In their first days alone, Dragon had nearly 10 million viewers, while Last had 4.7 million viewers and gained plenty more over the three-day period. (The finale to Last’s first season alone almost reached the same numbers as Dragon’s premiere.)
Most Welcome to Derry viewers caught onto the premiere after its initial Sunday night airing. Despite the show’s solid reviews, the episode itself caught attention online with its bloody ending, and it helped that it premiered shortly before Halloween. That twist took a lot of people by surprise—including HBO, as it turns out—and will likely get seats in butts for the remainder of the season.
Since Halloween fell on a Friday this year, the second Derry episode launched on HBO Max ahead of the usual Sunday timeslot. HBO also released the show’s intro, made by production studio Filmograph. In a separate THR interview, executive producer/director Andy Muschietti called the title sequence a “descent into dread” as it features Pennywise luring in kids or observing chaotic events throughout the town’s history. The sequence “reflects our desire to show the big catastrophic events” referenced in Stephen King’s novel, continued Muschietti, and further leaned into Derry being “a place that’s seemingly wholesome, but there’s something dreadful under the surface.”
You can read more about the sequence’s creation here, and it’ll play before new episodes of Welcome to Derry every Sunday.
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