IT Chapter 3: Welcome to Derry (2025)

Trailer Highlights: Fear Returns to the Sewers

The trailer opens on the fog-lagged streets of Derry, decades after the Losers Club’s final battle. A hush blankets the town, but then:

• Balloon strings emerging from sewers, dripping with autumn leaves.

• A lone paper boat spinning in stagnant water, Pennywise’s laughter echoing from the depths.

• A teenage girl, Ella Harper, steps into the sewer and vanishes—but not before snapping her flashlight... and picking up a red balloon.

Voice‑over (echoing):
“Your town forgot me... but I remembered.”

• Flashing scenes: The cemetery gate sweeps open on its own. House windows in Derry flicker with Pennywise’s eyes. A quick shot of Bill Denbrough’s notebook, pages flipped to the word forever.

New Faces, Old Fear

• Ella Harper (new lead), haunted by dreams of laughter in darkness, becomes central to ending the cycle.

• Mike Hanlon Jr., now Derry’s librarian, investigates a resurgence of missing children. He discovers the town’s history is repeating.

• Brief "ghost appearances" of adult members of the original Losers Club—Bill, Beverly, and Ben—return through photographs, tapes, and archival TV footage.

• Pennywise the Dancing Clown, terrifying as ever: neither fully juvenile nor ancient, but more cunning and menacing.

Themes & Tone

• Legacy of trauma: cycles of violence repeated generation to generation

• Power of memory: Derry forgets—but evil remembers

• Youth confronting darkness: children must finish what one generation started

The trailer’s tone blends supernatural dread with unsettling quiet. Pennywise’s voice is faint at first—almost a whisper—then escalating into metallic shrieks, echoing through Derry’s abandoned streets.

Direction & Visual Identity

Directed by Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation), the trailer reveals her macabre visual signature—lingering shadows, unsettling framing, and practical clown costumes enhanced with subtle CGI distortions. The soundtrack overlays children’s whispers with circus organ melodies slowing into discord.

Production designer Eugene Lee reimagines Derry as nostalgic Maine—church spires, vintage festivals, and gravity-defying rainbows turning dark under storm clouds.

Fan Reaction

Although only teaser clips have leaked via surviving VHS game footage and underground fan edits, fans immediately responded:

“It’s scarier than Chapter 2—more atmospheric, more psychological.”
“Ella has no idea what she’s stepped into… neither did we.”
“Just seeing that balloon float backwards into the sewer sent chills.”

What Comes Next

The full trailer debuts in October 2025, alongside marketing tie-ins in vintage ticket booths and branded paper boats washed up in urban rivers. A behind-the-scenes featurette will accompany the re-release of the original movies in early 2026.

Final Word

IT Chapter 3: Welcome to Derry promises to bring back the dread, the darkness, and the deep mythology of Stephen King’s world. The teaser trailer previews not just scares—but a reckoning deeply rooted in memory, fear, and the monsters we never fully face.