Andy Muschietti Reveals Season 2 of 'Welcome to Derry' Will Explore the Bradley Gang, Based on Real-Life Brady Gang

Key facts

• Season 2 of 'Welcome to Derry' is set in 1935.
• The season will explore the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers.
• The Bradley Gang is based on the real-life Brady Gang, executed in Bangor, Maine.
• Andy Muschietti confirmed Season 3 would cover the Kitchener Iron Works explosion, killing 100 children.
• Muschietti directed the two 'IT' movies and serves as creator/executive producer of the series.
• The series is a prequel to the 'IT' films, expanding on King's 1986 novel.

A Deeper Dive into Derry's Dark History

Andy Muschietti, the creator and director of HBO's 'IT: Welcome to Derry,' has revealed that the second season will explore a lesser-known subplot from Stephen King's 1986 novel. Speaking at Deadline's Contenders TV panel, Muschietti announced that Season 2 is set in 1935 and will focus on the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers whose encounter with the town of Derry ends in horrific violence. 'For the ones of you who read the books, probably the Bradley Gang sounds familiar,' Muschietti said. 'They were on their way somewhere and they stopped in Derry to buy some ammo and something horrible happens.' The Bradley Gang is not purely fictional; King drew inspiration from a real 1930s crime in his home state of Maine. Muschietti explained, 'The Bradley Gang is based on the Brady Gang, which is a real-life gang of robbers that were executed in the streets of Bangor, Maine.' This historical parallel grounds the supernatural horror in tangible, grim reality, a hallmark of King's storytelling.

From the Brady Gang to the Bradley Gang: A True-Crime Foundation

The real Brady Gang was a notorious trio of criminals who terrorized the Northeast in the 1930s. Their spree ended in a dramatic shootout with police in Bangor, Maine, where two of the gang members were killed. King repurposed this event for his novel, transplanting it to Derry and imbuing it with the malevolent influence of Pennywise the Clown. Muschietti noted that the series will not merely recreate the historical event but will amplify its violence: 'Now we're not creating the event that the big paroxysm of violence in this case will be the massacre of a Bradley gang.' This approach aligns with the series' broader strategy of mining King's dense source material for untapped narrative veins. The first season already established a pattern of expanding on minor references from the novel, and Season 2 continues that trend by giving the Bradley Gang a central role.

A Bleak Depression-Era Setting

Muschietti emphasized that the 1935 setting fundamentally alters the tone and stakes of the story. 'It's fascinating because the thing that is so much fun in this stage of development is that we're facing an era which is the Depression Era that changes dramatically the setup of things,' he said. 'There's no suburban comfort — the trope of the kids that live in suburbia and they ride their bikes and suddenly one of them disappears is nothing like this. This is in 1935. It's a very dire situation. People are very poor. They're struggling to survive, so the setup will be very different.' This shift from the familiar suburban horror of the 'IT' films to the gritty desperation of the Great Depression promises a fresh visual and emotional palette. The economic hardship will likely amplify the sense of vulnerability, making the town's residents more susceptible to Pennywise's predation.

Future Seasons and the Kitchener Iron Works Explosion

Muschietti also teased plans for a potential third season, which would cover another major event from King's novel: the explosion of the Kitchener Iron Works during an Easter egg hunt, an incident that kills a hundred children. 'There's like three big events in Welcome to Derry Season 1 … and Season 3 would be the explosion of the Kitchener Iron Works, which is a big explosion during an Easter egg hunt where a hundred kids lost their lives,' he said. 'It's always there f*cking around, so that much I can tell you.' This revelation indicates that the series is conceived as a multi-season arc, systematically addressing the catastrophic events that punctuate Derry's history. Each season appears to focus on a different era, allowing the show to explore the town's cyclical violence and the enduring presence of Pennywise.

Expanding the Mythology of Pennywise and Bob Gray

Beyond the historical events, Muschietti expressed a desire to delve into the origins of Pennywise himself. 'During the shoot of IT 2, we kept having these conversations about the possibilities of making an origin story of, how did Bob Gray become [Pennywise] the clown? How did it become Pennywise? Who was Bob Gray?' he said. 'Bob Gray is one of the big enigmas in the book that are intentionally put there to create tension and are never solved. Our idea was to just like open another window into that enigma.' This approach suggests that 'Welcome to Derry' will not only adapt existing material but also expand the lore, offering new insights into the character that has haunted readers and viewers for decades. By opening 'another window into that enigma,' the series aims to enrich the mythos without dispelling its mystery entirely.

The Series as a Continuation of Muschietti's Vision

Muschietti, who directed both 'IT' (2017) and 'IT Chapter Two' (2019), brings a deep familiarity with King's world to the prequel series. He noted that the novel has been close to his heart for decades, and the two films only scratched the surface of its content. 'The feeling that we still had so much ground to cover. I had read this book many, many decades ago, and it was very close to me and very close to my heart. And there's so many stories in that book that I couldn't possibly cover in two movies,' he said. This sentiment drives the series' expansive scope, allowing Muschietti to explore narrative threads that were necessarily compressed in the films. The result is a deeper, more textured examination of Derry's haunted history, one that promises to satisfy both longtime fans and newcomers.

The bottom line

• Season 2 of 'Welcome to Derry' is set in 1935 and centers on the Bradley Gang, a fictionalized version of the real Brady Gang executed in Bangor, Maine.
• The Depression-era setting will shift the series away from suburban horror to a grittier, more desperate atmosphere.
• Future seasons are planned, including a third covering the Kitchener Iron Works explosion that kills 100 children.
• The series aims to explore the origin of Pennywise and the character Bob Gray, an enigma in King's novel.
• Muschietti's deep connection to the source material drives the expansion of minor subplots into full seasons.