IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 cast and characters- Meet the stars behind the series and the roles they play

IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 made its original debut on HBO Max on October 26, 2025, beginning an eight-episode weekly run that expands Stephen King’s rich horror lore. As a prequel to the 2017 and 2019 IT films, the series takes viewers back to Derry, Maine, in 1962, where a town is haunted by sinister disappearances and the presence of a lurking evil horror lurking beneath.

As IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 unfolds, the Hanlon family’s arrival coincides with the frantic search for a missing boy, Matty Clements, amid Derry's adults and children grappling with paranoia-fueled fear. The season toggles between character studies of horror elements and social upheavals, providing a backstory to Pennywise the Clown, and featuring an ensemble that includes the talents of Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, James Remar, and Bill Skarsgård.

Who stars in IT: Welcome to Derry season 1?

Jovan Adepo as Major Leroy Hanlon

Leroy Hanlon is a Korean War veteran and Air Force Major who is posted to Derry, emerging as the main character when ominous events start unfolding around him. In IT: Welcome to Derry season 1, he has to balance the demands of family and the military while slowly dealing with the dark supernatural history of the town, becoming a reluctant investigator into Derry's multi-layered horrors.

Jovan Adepo first made waves in Fences and HBO's Watchmen and appeared in The Leftovers and Babylon. He earned critical acclaim for his role in Watchmen and an ensemble SAG Award nomination as part of Fences.

Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon

Los Angeles Premiere of HBO Original Series "IT: Welcome to Derry" (Image via Getty)

Charlotte, Leroy's wife and a school teacher, gets swept away in the growing fear as her students experience bizarre terrors. Soon her discomfort moves her to protect her family and young students, revealing her moral center amidst the growing hysteria, panic, and fear of the entire town.

Taylour Paige made waves with Zola, earning an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She was also critically praised for her role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Some of her other projects include Sharp Stick and The Toxic Avenger.

Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann

Dick Hallorann becomes a figure of leadership in the community, battling supernatural evils while protecting Derry's children. Utilizing his natural "shining" powers, Hallorann attempts to bring the townspeople together and translate their contemporary fears back into their town's history of tragedies, establishing critical alliances when evil continues to grow.

Chris Chalk is best known for breakout roles in Gotham and When They See Us. Apart from IT: Welcome to Derry season 1, his other projects include HBO's The Newsroom and Perry Mason.

James Remar as General Shaw

Dexter: Resurrection | World Premiere in NY (Image via Getty)

Playing General Shaw, Remar's character commands military operations at the Derry Air Force Base, contributing to the era's tension amidst cultural change. His wartime instincts and strong local ties place him in constant conflict with civilian and supernatural threats, providing a keen insight into institutional power and suspicion in America in the 1960s.

James Remar is most famous for Dexter and The Warriors, with notable appearances in Django Unchained, Sex and the City, and Black Lightning. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for his work on Dexter.

Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise

As Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Skarsgård reprises the evil character, frightening Derry's residents from the shadows in IT: Welcome to Derry season 1. This prequel explores the origins of Pennywise on multiple levels that enhance the mythos of that character.

Bill Skarsgård first came to prominence as Pennywise in IT and has appeared in projects such as Atomic Blonde, Castle Rock, Nosferatu, and The Devil All the Time. Skarsgård's portrayal of Pennywise received widespread critical acclaim, resulting in multiple nominations for awards from MTV and the Fright Meter Awards.

Clara Stack as Lilly Bainbridge

Lilly is another of Matty's friends. Terrorized by loss and strange voices, she is a source of childhood innocence in IT: Welcome to Derry season 1. Her transformation from scared witness to courageous seeker highlights the emotional toll of Derry's violence on its children and links the kids' optimism to the larger fight against evil.

Clara Stack has appeared in The Girl from Plainville and Law & Order: Organized Crime. She's being noted as a rising star in the horror and drama genre.

Supporting cast and characters

Apart from the aforementioned actors, here is the list of supporting cast and characters who appear in IT: Welcome to Derry season 1:

James Collins as Ghoulish Deputy
Kate Wheeler as Woman with Dog
Stephen Rider as Hank Grogan
Matilda Lawler as Marge
Blake Cameron James as Will
Arian S. Cartaya as Rich
Matilda Legault as Susie Malkin
Rudy Mancuso as Pauly Russo
Alixandra Fuchs
Dmitry Chepovetsky as Rabbi Uris
Finley Burke as Don Uris
Mikkal Karim Fidler as Terry / Teddy Uris
Joshua Odjick
Amanda Christine as Veronica 'Ronnie' Grogan / Ronnie Grogan
Jack Molloy Legault as Phil Malkin
Miles Ekhardt as Matty Clements
Chad Rook as Staff Sgt. Masters
Robert Clarke as Principal Dunleavy
Isabel Deroy-Olson as Kino
Chance Orion Wood as Dog Faced Boy
Larry Day as Stan Kersch
Eli Katz as Mrs. Uris
Jeff Dingle as Usher
Teresa Van der Hoeven as Shusher
Thomas Mitchell as Colonel Fuller
Jon-Alex MacFarlane as Robert Preston
Maya McNair as Patty
Hannah Storey as Rhonda
Maya Misaljevic as Elaine

All about IT: Welcome to Derry season 1

IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 reimagines Stephen King's dark landscape as a psychological thriller in 1962, when Matty Clements' disappearance wreaks havoc on the town's children and their families. The series follows how the introduction of outsiders and the military, especially the Hanlon family, brings tensions and awakens underlying trauma.

When kids become friends and start searching for Matty, bizarre things start happening, and the community is confronted with primal horrors personified in the form of Pennywise the Clown. Incorporated into these childhood fears and adult misunderstandings are also hints of racial and social tension threads.

Fans can catch new episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 every Friday on HBO Max.

Edited by Somava