TV Show review
October 26, 2025 · TV-MA · Returning Series
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for IT: Welcome to Derry.
Woke representation / casting
Prominent Black actors headline the Hanlon family and Hallorann roles in a 1962 Maine town setting with historically minimal Black population; Latino child added to the kid group; this stands out as deliberate diversity that drew direct complaints about agenda-driven casting.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue touches on 1960s racism, Civil Rights tensions, and Charlotte’s activist views, but stays mostly tied to period events rather than modern lectures or identity slogans.
Identity-driven story themes
The Hanlon family’s racial struggles and the Black Spot historical violence receive sustained focus as forces that strengthen the entity; these run parallel to the core horror but form a clear secondary emphasis.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Review
IT: Welcome to Derry is a 2025 HBO prequel series set in 1962 Derry, Maine. It follows misfit kids investigating child disappearances linked to an ancient evil entity while a U.S. military unit tries to control the creature as a Cold War weapon. The story centers the Hanlon family’s experiences with racism and adds social themes alongside standard Stephen King horror elements like fear, trauma, and small-town secrets.
The U.S. military’s secret project to seize and weaponize the entity for Cold War use portrays government exploitation and overreach; town police corruption and racism are shown enabling harm, though the anti-Communist framing keeps it from pure left-wing messaging.
Woke character or canon changes
The series expands the Hanlon family backstory and adds a Hallorann crossover consistent with King’s wider universe; no identity swaps or major canon rewrites occur.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Multiple YouTube videos, Reddit threads specifically call out excessive racism focus, DEI casting in a small 1960s town, and social subplots as detracting from horror.
Creator track record context
Cord Jefferson’s race-centered prior work raises the average, but Stephen King’s moderate liberal record, low-woke directors like Andy Muschietti, and neutral showrunners keep the overall signal moderate rather than dominant.
Production
