Prequel series to the films feels familiar and fresh through first five episodes

Prequels have the unenviable task of telling you a story in which you already know the ending. The worst ones are lazy and uninspired. The best, though, enrich and deepen the source material, revealing something new to you along the way. “It: Welcome to Derry,” HBO’s prequel series to the 2017 movie “It” and its 2019 sequel, squarely falls into the latter category. 

Based on Stephen King’s classic 1986 novel “It,” the prequel carries many of the same trademarks of the first film: It’s set in Derry, Maine, in 1962, 27 years before the events of the first movie. (Fans will recognize the importance of that number.) Kids are going missing, and the adults are becoming unhinged. Pennywise, the ancient shapeshifting horror that takes on the nightmarish visage of a clown before eating terrified children, has returned. And it’s up to a bunch of traumatized children — all way too curious for their own good and hilariously foul-mouthed — to try to put a stop to it all. 

But what elevates “Derry” — developed by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, who all were involved with the films — from being a mere rehash is the introduction of a secondary plotline that pivots away from the young protagonists.

Read the full review at The Seattle Times.

Four “I still hate clowns” stars out of five, and a critic’s pick.

Photo credit: Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in “It: Welcome to Derry.” (Brooke Palmer / HBO)