Welcome to Derry is the latest prequel offering that hopes to expand on a popular intellectual property. Based on the popular IT movies, which are themselves based on the popular book by renowned horror author Stephen King, Welcome to Derry hopes to fill in some gaps in the lore of the fictional town of Derry, as well as the eponymous clown monster from IT.
Thus far, Welcome to Derry has been well-received by both critics and fans alike, and I’ll be honest: I do like the show. It’s scary, moody, and filled with top-notch performances. Everything you’d want out of a solid horror show. But I can’t escape the feeling that it doesn’t do enough to justify its own existence. Much like other prequels that no one really asked for, I can’t help but wonder why it was made, other than to capitalize on the success of the films.
Welcome to Derry is trying to answer questions that do not require them
Sometimes, less is more
Credit: HBO Max
Welcome to Derry is seemingly obsessed with solving every single mystery that both the novel and the movies did not give concrete answers to, and I believe that’s its biggest flaw. Do we really need to know the origins of Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) or why the town of Derry is the way that it is? To me, knowing more about the terrifying shapeshifting monster only takes away from what makes it so scary in the first place.
Sometimes, we don’t need to have all the answers to be properly frightened or intrigued, and IT is the perfect example of this. In fact, I would argue that more answers only lessen its impact. This is an inherent problem with prequels in general, but I think it really hits a property like this particularly hard. It’s not quite on the level of say, adapting films to television and failing miserably, but it’s still enough to leave me scratching my head.
It’s less about quality than it is about a worrying trend
Audiences deserve more
Credit: HBO Max
Some of you may be arguing, “If it’s good, then why does it matter?” That’s a fair question, it really is. Like I said, I have enjoyed my time with Welcome to Derry overall, despite its insistence on exploring narrative territories I’d rather remain unexcavated. I felt mostly the same way about House of the Dragon. It’s a good show that is better than the later seasons of Game of Thrones in a lot of ways, but do any of its answers matter? I would argue they do not.
If anything, I would prefer prequels to embrace the Better Call Saul method of doing things. Expand on the world, yes, and even give us a nice glimpse into the future, but I don’t need to see Walter White (Bryan Cranston) working as a chemistry teacher for five seasons just to understand why he decided to make meth. Saul (Bob Odenkirk) is a character who stood on his own, and the series still added to the universe of Breaking Bad without feeling like it had to answer every little question left behind by that show.
Nowadays, too many studios and creatives are comfortable existing in the same world far past its expiration date. Sure, there’s every chance that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms could save the Game of Thrones universe, but at this point, I’d rather just move on. There are so many other great fantasy stories out there, waiting to be told. Toiling in franchises with endless sequels, spin-offs, and yes, prequels is just another creatively bankrupt exercise. Audiences deserve better than that.
I am not completely against prequels, just what a lot of them represent
I know I sound like a curmudgeon
Credit: HBO Max
As I said, I loved Better Call Saul. In some ways, it was even superior to Breaking Bad in the way its narrative unfolded and in how it treated its main characters. But that show was made by creatives who actually had a story to tell, in a universe that benefited from that. It didn’t engage in exhausting levels of fan service or attempt to shine a light on mysteries from Breaking Bad that no one needed an answer to.
And I also get that it can be fun to exist in a world you love for just a little bit longer, whether it’s needed or not. Trust me, I get it. I’ve read more fanfiction than I’d really care to admit. But shows like Welcome to Derry do not feel like labors of love to me; they feel like cash-grabs intended to feed on your sense of nostalgia. Just because it also happens to be a decent show doesn’t take away from that cynicism for me.
I might as well argue with the deadlights
Of course, Welcome to Derry has been a major success for HBO Max, though. Its ratings are excellent, the reviews are solid, and fans are eating it up like Pennywise devours the children of Derry. And I’m one of the people watching it, so maybe I’m part of the problem, despite my complaints here. I still think that eventually we’re going to reach a boiling point when it comes to the idea of prequels and the purpose they serve in this industry.
If you’re looking for more downer articles to read, might I suggest this piece about beloved shows with endings that everyone hated for one reason or another.
