Courtesy of HBO

Despite the absolutely unprecedented number of adaptations of his work, Stephen King is surprisingly consistent about checking out new incarnations as they bow, often weighing in on them via social media. For the most part, he remains objective, sharing what works and what doesn’t. He’s got a keenly trained critical eye and seems to approach his own work with the same reverence and curiosity as the rest of us. So, when he offers his seal of approval, it’s generally a safe bet that whatever he’s endorsing is worth seeking out. On that note, King recently watched episode 3 of It: Welcome to Derry and took care to reassure gore hounds that there’s plenty of horror featured within the episode. 

The author hopped on X (formerly Twitter) a few hours before the latest episode dropped on HBO and shared the following update:

Episode 3 of WELCOME TO DERRY ratchets up the horror. As Nigel Tufnel would say, “This one goes to eleven.”

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 9, 2025

Season one of It: Welcome to Derry is set in 1962. It follows a couple who pack up and relocate to the idyllic town of Derry, Maine, with their young son in tow. Just as they arrive in their new city, a child disappears, setting the stage for even more ghastly horrors to come.

For anyone unfamiliar with Nigel Tufnel, he is the lead guitarist in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and its 2025 sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. The over-the-top character is played by the great Christopher Guest. You can always count on King for a good pop culture reference.

I haven’t gotten to episode three of the series just yet, but I can’t wait to see what King is talking about. The show is off to a great start, with strong reactions thus far from both fans and critics. Showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane have demonstrated a solid understanding of how to adapt King for the screen with the early episodes. Here’s hoping that trajectory continues throughout the series’ planned three-season run.

Season two is expected to take the timeline back to 1935, whereas the third season will unfold in 1908. Each of the respective timelines will tackle a separate reign of terror perpetrated by the notorious dancing clown, Pennywise, who is once again played by Bill Skarsgård. As you surely recall, the actor famously appeared as the character in 2017’s It and the 2019 sequel, It: Chapter Two. 

You can catch new episodes of It: Welcome to Derry on Sunday nights at 9PM. The program airs on the HBO linear channel and drops on HBO Max simultaneously. The current season consists of eight total episodes. 

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