HBO Max’s 8-Part Horror Show Makes Even Stranger Things Look Small

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Although Stranger Things became very ambitious in its later seasons, another horror show on HBOMax has an even broader storyline. Stranger Things wasn’t initially planned as a huge, ongoing franchise. It started as a self-contained, small-town mystery – originally intended as a single, limited series – and while it later expanded with a family-friendly spinoff called Tales from ’85, its first season was designed to be a complete story on its own.

It’s funny, considering Netflix has a habit of canceling shows like Sense8 before their time, they decided to keep Stranger Things going even though the story felt pretty complete. That show was just huge, though! We got season 2 in October 2017, and by 2019, season 3 really blew the whole world open. It wasn’t just the show anymore either – they released books, games, and comics that added even more to the story. It really became a whole universe!

Sometimes, increasing the budget doesn’t improve a show. While the fifth season of Stranger Things had the largest budget of any TV show ever, many viewers felt it drastically altered the show’s original feel. It ended up resembling a typical, large-scale sci-fi movie, a far cry from the first season’s blend of personal stories, suspense, and horror. Luckily, HBO Max’s IT – Welcome to Derry, a prequel based on Stephen King’s work, successfully explored a similar idea and delivered a more captivating and ambitious story.

It – Welcome to Derry’s Anthology Approach Is Incredibly Ambitious

While Stranger Things began with a smaller scope and gradually expanded, the first season of It – Welcome to Derry established a story stretching back thousands of years, ultimately revealing that its villain can unknowingly travel through time. When you look at the basic storylines, It – Welcome to Derry and Stranger Things share similarities: both feature a group of isolated young people who band together to fight a supernatural danger in a small town.

Both shows are set in the past and share a similar storyline: shady military figures are secretly experimenting on the town and its people. However, Stranger Things created its mythology as it went, leading to some confusing plot points and storylines that were never fully resolved. It – Welcome to Derry, on the other hand, drew strength from Stephen King’s original novel, It. The novel was very long, and the series benefitted from the adaptations being carefully edited, allowing it to explore plotlines that the earlier movies had left out.

It – Welcome to Derry Season 2 Will Make The Show So Much Bigger

Later seasons of Stranger Things sometimes felt like they were making up the backstory as they went along, changing details each season. In contrast, the first season of It – Welcome to Derry had a well-planned and consistent story. It cleverly built upon the existing mythology of Pennywise from the movies and delved into the dark history of Derry, showing the earliest conflicts between newcomers and the town’s original inhabitants. Luckily, the show isn’t finished telling this interesting story.

The upcoming second season of It – Welcome to Derry will jump back in time three decades to show Pennywise’s final major rampage, proving that this series is one of the most creatively expansive horror shows currently on television. With each season taking place 27 years in the past, the show is building a richer and more detailed world.

As a longtime fan of horror and coming-of-age stories, I was really impressed with how It – Welcome to Derry approached the mythology. We’ve seen Pennywise defeated before, both in the 80s and the 2010s on screen, but this series smartly went even further back, showing us the monster’s attacks in the 60s before the events of the novel truly kick off. Season two then takes us to the 1930s. This prequel format allows It – Welcome to Derry to build a consistently compelling and ambitious narrative that, frankly, Stranger Things sometimes struggled to achieve. It feels like the creators had a clear vision, and it really pays off.

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2026-05-27 17:40