13 TV Shows Like ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ That Are Worth Watching
Pennywise is back, baby, and pop culture’s favorite clown is traveling back in time to murder the children of Derry, Maine, in 1962, with future seasons (if they materialize) set to explore other time periods. If my hometown had a child massacre every generation or so, I’d probably be tempted to collect my bets and hit the road, but the Stephen King train must keep rolling, and so here we are.
While the series hasn’t quite reached the heights of previous It adaptations, it has demonstrated an admirable capacity for shock: the opening scene features a strikingly graphic and rather unusual birthing scene, and the show’s creators quickly make it clear that no character is immune to Pennywise’s dark deeds. While you wait for new episodes to air, you might enjoy other horror films (including other King adaptations) that play out in a similar vein.
Castle Rock (2018–2019)
Castle Rock , canceled after two (pretty excellent) seasons, was a victim of poor marketing. The show was marketed as a dive into some interconnected Stephen King universe, promising Easter eggs but not delivering much in the way of narrative. And yet! There are real stories here, with real dramatic weight—season one’s “Queen,” told from the perspective of an unstable character (played by Sissy Spacek) with worsening dementia, was one of the best and most existentially terrifying things on television that year. Season two introduces young Annie Wilkes (Lizzy Caplan), the Kathy Bates character we know from Misery . The cast across both seasons is stellar, including Bill Skarsgård as the creepy character without a name, Pennywise. King fans have plenty to dig into as we delve into the backstory of another Stephen King town, but it all works quite well on its own. Watch Castle Rock on Hulu.
Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 –)
The third season in what AMC calls its Immortal Universe of Anne Rice-based shows, this season stars Nicholas Denton as Guy Anatole, a new recruit to the titular organization of supernatural spies and watchers; William Fichtner as a vampire vying for control of the organization; and Downton Abbey ‘s Elizabeth McGovern delivers another delightfully twisted performance as the leader of the New York house of the Talamasca. The show is impressively lively and energetic—a small surprise, given the heavy emo vibe of Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches . We’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but the show opens with a rather brutal dismemberment, à la It . Watch The Talamasca on AMC+.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023 – )
It’s more of an action thriller than a dark horror series like It , but the two series do share a couple of similarities. First, they both offer previously unexplored backstories for popular films; second, they’re both full of monsters. Monarch surprisingly effectively tells its own story within the universe of all the American Godzilla films of the last decade, bringing the big stories back to Earth while simultaneously building on the long-running mythology of the monster universe. Anna Saway plays a young teacher searching for her father, who went missing after Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco (shown in the 2014 film), and who finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present of the Army colonel who helped set it all in motion back in 1959. Watch Monarch on Apple TV+ .
Darkness (2017–2020)
Dark began as a missing-child mystery and, over three seasons, evolved into an incredibly complex narrative: a time-travel tale exploring dark family secrets across generations. While not as gory as Welcome to Derry , it shares that series’ willingness to subject children and adolescents to torment. In some horror stories, youth can be a kind of protection, but not here—not even the slightest. This German import is striking in its look and incredibly atmospheric atmosphere, with a cast of teenagers and adults whose stories are artfully intertwined across decades in a story that begins with the disappearance of a child (one of the least bad things to happen to the residents of fictional Winden, Germany). Watch Dark on Netflix.
Alien (2020)
The premise is brutal and, for everyone involved, impossible: a child is brutally murdered (even Pennywise might be shocked), and the evidence points decisively to little league coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). It’s a straightforward case—except he was out of town at a conference when the murder occurred, and even appeared on the news in another city. Tragedies pile up, and the threat isn’t quite organic. Without giving too much away, this is one of the most disturbing King adaptations (but it’s incredibly entertaining). Bateman delivers excellent performances, as do Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, one of King’s recurring characters. HBO declined to renew the series, but it adapts the entire book and ends it quite decisively. Watch “The Outsider” on HBO Max.
Channel Zero (2016–2018)
Nick Antosca’s series, a dizzying and occasionally terrifying continuation of various online creepypastas, spans four seasons. While the tone is far from YA, it evokes the atmosphere of childhood nightmares come to life: the first season anticipates I Saw the Shining with the story of a half-forgotten TV series linked to the disappearances of several children; in the second season, a group of friends finds themselves trapped in a haunted house that serves as a tourist attraction and leads to a disturbing alternate reality. It’s all witty and genuinely creepy, with existential dread combined with memorable visuals, such as a child made entirely of human teeth. Watch Channel Zero on Shudder.
Lovecraft Country (2020)
A Black family embarks on a journey through Jim Crow-era America. Matt Ruff’s novel, on which the series is based, is one of the few compelling books written in the last decade that attempts to reconcile the overtly racist views of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft with the power and appeal of his writing. In this way, the series uncovers some of the darkest horrors of 20th-century America and places them alongside and within Lovecraft’s universe of ancient gods and dark dimensions. Much 1950s horror, like It , uses a twisted white suburb as its setting, while Lovecraft Country flips that on its head—none of these characters are surprised to learn that there is darkness at the heart of the mid-century American dream. The great Michael K. Williams appears here in one of his final performances. Watch Lovecraft Country on HBO Max.
The Fog (2017)
While the extended runtime may make the TV version of “The Mist ” lack the film’s edge and immediacy, it nonetheless captures a “hell is other people” vibe I can’t argue with. The plot is essentially the same, though now it encompasses an entire town: a mysterious fog envelops Bridgeville, Maine, and within the nearly impenetrable mist lurk dark and brutal Lovecraftian horrors. Some people react courageously, but most are focused on survival, while others approach the danger with a utterly useless religious mania that causes more harm than even the monsters themselves. A few hours with these people, and I’d risk venturing outside. The film stars Morgan Spector of “The Gilded Age . ” Buy “The Mist” on Apple TV+ and Prime Video .
They (2021 – 2024)
Beginning in the 1950s, Them explores the Second Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South for Northern cities and suburbs in search of new opportunities, eschewing overt racism in favor of something more subtle. The Emory family (led by Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas) moves from North Carolina to the all-white neighborhood of East Compton, where each family member is eventually haunted by their own ghost. Smiling white faces, concealing malevolent intent, are far more terrifying than any ghost. The second and final season takes us to 1991 Los Angeles, much like Welcome to Derry promises time jumps in future seasons, should they occur. Watch Them on Prime Video.
The Midnight Club (2022)
Midnight Club , based on several different young adult novels by Christopher Pike, follows a group of eight terminally ill young patients in a bucolic hospice run by a secretive and mysterious doctor (Heather Langenkamp of A Nightmare on Elm Street ). Each night, the children meet secretly to share scary stories, each promising to return from the grave when their time comes. It’s eerie and often touching, but never sentimental or precious, and while the tone is a bit more wistful than Welcome to Derry , it shares with later series a willingness to put these kids through it . The show was planned as more than a miniseries, so the cancellation leaves a few unanswered questions, but that’s okay given the show’s overall tone, which dealt with unsolvable mysteries about life and death.Stream Midnight Club on Netflix.
Since (2022 – )
For the residents of The Town (itself unnamed), the feeling of being trapped in their hometown is literal: once you set foot in it, you can never leave. Oh, and did I mention that creatures emerge from the woods and kill anyone they find outside after dark? It doesn’t sound as terrifying as the town I grew up in, but it’s still unsettling. In the first few episodes, the Matthews family learns this firsthand when they drive their RV into town and find themselves trapped with the local sheriff (Harold Perrineau)—even after dark. The monsters in the series aren’t just mindlessly hungry; they’re cunning and sadistic, more than capable of killing residents in spectacularly gory ways. Watch on MGM+.
Asylum (2010 – 2015)
Another Stephen King adaptation that takes the source material and carries it with it, this time based on the short detective novel “The Colorado Kid .” Emily Rose plays Audrey Parker, an FBI special agent sent to the titular small town of Haven, Maine, to investigate a routine case and who becomes embroiled in “The Troubles”—a series of malign and often violent supernatural events that have recurred throughout the town’s history. The supernatural case-of-the-week format gives way to a larger mystery when Audrey learns that this isn’t her first visit to Haven or the first time she’s encountered the Troubles, even if she has few memories of her time there. Though primarily set in the present, the series masterfully captures the “small towns are quaint” atmosphere that King excelled at. Watch “Haven” on Tubi , Peacock , and Prime Video .
Feria: Darkest Light (2022)
Dark deeds and supernatural forces from the past haunt several generations—this time in Andalusia in 1995. In this imported film, teenage sisters Sofia and Eva find themselves in a nightmare when their parents disappear, implicated in a cult ritual that left 23 people dead, including a woman who disappeared years earlier. Set in 1975 and, indirectly, the fall of Francisco Franco’s regime, Feria destroys the sense of community and security inherent in this small town, while simultaneously questioning the value of institutions, including the government and the church, that are held dear by everyone. Children caught in a cycle of violence and shame passed down from generation to generation creates an incredibly relatable atmosphere.Watch Feria on Netflix.