‘IT’ Movies and TV Shows In Chronological Order (Including ‘Welcome to Derry’)

The world of ‘It’ spans decades of story time and multiple adaptations, which can make it tricky to watch in a clean timeline. If you want the tale of Derry to unfold by when events happen within the story rather than by release year, this guide lines everything up so the pieces fall into place.

Below you will find the main screen versions of Stephen King’s shape-shifting evil arranged by when their stories begin. That puts the prequel series first with its 1960s setting in Derry, followed by adaptations that place the kids and adult timelines later. Each entry notes where it fits, what time periods it covers, and how it connects to the wider ‘It’ universe.

‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ (2025–)

Warner Bros. Television

Set in Derry during the 1960s, ‘Welcome to Derry’ explores the town’s history decades before the Losers’ story. The series traces earlier cycles of the entity known as Pennywise as it awakens roughly every twenty-seven years, focusing on how disappearances and disasters ripple through the community long before the events dramatized in the later films. The show uses the period setting to track how Derry’s institutions respond to fear and how long-buried secrets shape the town’s families.

Developed for television as a prequel connected to the feature films, ‘Welcome to Derry’ expands locations, supporting characters, and local lore introduced on the big screen. Viewers will see recurring touchpoints such as the sewers, the water tower, and familiar street corners while meeting new characters whose experiences foreshadow the patterns that the Losers later uncover. The series format also allows for multi-episode arcs that follow an earlier group facing Pennywise’s cycle and the town’s tendency to look away.

‘It’ (1990) Part I

Lorimar Television

The 1990 television miniseries tells the story across two periods in a single production, beginning with the friends’ childhood timeline set in the 1960s. It introduces the seven kids who name themselves the Losers’ Club, shows how they discover the creature’s presence through a trail of disappearances, and follows their plan to confront the evil beneath Derry. Key beats include the formation of the group, their shared encounters with fear that takes different forms, and their oath to return if the killings ever start again.

‘It’ (2017)

New Line Cinema

This feature film adapts the childhood portion of the story and shifts it to the late 1980s. It follows the Losers through one summer in Derry as they investigate a string of missing children, connect the incidents to an inhuman predator in the sewers, and rely on each other to survive. The film emphasizes the investigation that leads them to identify patterns in local history and pin down where the entity nests, culminating in a coordinated attempt to stop the killings.

By isolating the kids’ timeline into its own movie, ‘It’ (2017) creates a clear starting point for the modern film continuity. It establishes the personalities and dynamics of the seven friends, lays out the rules of how the entity preys on fear, and ends with the group making a pledge about what to do if the horror ever resurfaces. The closing title card signals that the adult half of the narrative will follow in a separate installment.

‘It’ (1990) Part II

Lorimar Television

The second half revisits the group as adults who return to Derry around three decades later when the pattern resumes. The miniseries alternates present-day scenes with flashbacks to fill in missing details from their first battle, explaining why some memories faded and what they left unresolved. By covering both eras within one production, the 1990 version functions as a complete arc that maps the creature’s cycle and the Losers’ promise from childhood to adulthood.

‘It Chapter Two’ (2019)

New Line Cinema

Set decades after the events of the 2017 film, ‘It Chapter Two’ follows the Losers as adults who have scattered far from Derry. When the killings begin again, a phone call pulls them back to the town to fulfill the promise they made as kids. Much of the plot tracks how their forgotten memories return once they cross the city limits, why those gaps matter to finishing what they started, and what each member must retrieve from the past to weaken the entity for a final confrontation.

The film intercuts present-day sequences with new scenes from the friends’ late-80s summer to fill in crucial details that were not shown earlier. It expands the mythology introduced in the first film, explains the cyclical nature of the threat, and shows how the group’s bond remains central to surviving the renewed attack. As the conclusion of the two-part feature adaptation, it resolves the adult storyline that began with ‘It’ (2017) and closes the loop on the promise made in Derry.

Share how you plan to watch the ‘It’ saga in the comments and tell us where you think ‘Welcome to Derry’ should slot into your marathon.