HBO’s prequel series It: Welcome to Derry launched for Halloween 2025, extending the classic Stephen King novel and Andy Muschietti films and providing a fleshed-out origin for Pennywise. For 2026, the showrunners had a trick up their sleeves that proved a treat for horror fans on the spookiest day of the year.
Titled A Story of Derry, the 30-minute installment dropped a week ago and explores the backstory of “It” centuries before the interdimensional terror assumed the form of a certain dancing clown. As we learned in Episode 4 of Welcome to Derry, “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function,” the shapeshifting creature was known to the local Indigenous peoples at “the Galloo” and preyed upon those who ventured into the Western Woods.
The flashback actors from that episode — including Morningstar Angeline (Sesqui), Kiawentiio (Necani), Isabel Deroy-Olson (Kino), and Michael Podemski-Bedard (Maneese) — reprise their roles for A Story of Derry, with Season 1 co-star Kimberly Guerrero also appearing. Dark Winds star Zahn McClarnon joins in a pivotal role. A Story of Derry was directed by Tazbah Chavez (an Emmy nominee for Reservation Dogs) and written by Cherie Dimaline and Jasmyne Flournoy.
Since Welcome to Derry concluded its first season last December, the show was eligible at the 2026 Emmys, where it received nominations for Best VFX and Best Opening Title Sequence. Welcome to Derry was renewed in August for the second of three planned seasons. Executive producer Barbara Muschietti told Gold Derby in May that “we are very actively working on the scripts,” but the series, which Andy describes as “basically eight movies,” isn’t expected to return at least until late 2027, putting in play for the 2028 Emmys.
In the meantime, does A Story of Derry have a path to 2027 Emmys?
The short answer is no.
We initially thought A Story of Derry might be considered an “orphaned episode.” As defined by the Emmy rulebook, orphaned episodes are those that are part of the run of a season that air after the eligibility closing date of May 31. They become eligible for the subsequent Emmys if a new season doesn’t return before then. The best recent example of this is Widow’s Bay. The final three episodes aired in June, and because the Apple TV series won’t be back in time, those episodes could be submitted in “certain individual achievement categories,” per the Television Academy. That covers most crafts and guest-acting fields but not “body of work” categories like Best Series or lead and supporting performers.
The only other possibility would be for the show to be considered as a “special episode,” which is produced outside of a normal season. However, for Emmy purposes, these are typically movie-length installments running at least 75 minutes, and A Story of Derry clocked in at a half-hour.
In the end, we asked the TV Academy for a ruling. The verdict, from a rep: “Since it’s not part of a season, it’s not considered an orphaned episode. Unfortunately, the special doesn’t meet eligibility requirements for any program categories.”
Emmy eligible or not, A Story of Derry was a scary delight — perhaps the Muschiettis and company have another surprise down the line while we wait for Season 2.
