It: Welcome to Derry Drops a Surprise Halloween Episode on HBO Max

Evening News · Saturday 31 October 2026, Halloween

HBO Max had a Halloween surprise up its sleeve: a brand-new, unannounced episode of It: Welcome to Derry, set centuries before Pennywise. Also tonight: Billie Piper heads to Wales for the supernatural horror Sketchbook, BBC Cymru Wales drops a nightmare of a pop tour on iPlayer, Pluribus is reported to be back in front of the cameras, Criminal Minds: Evolution sets its final season, and Armando Iannucci lines up James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander and Taron Egerton for a conspiracy thriller.

The News That Matters

It: Welcome to Derry drops a surprise Halloween episode, A Story of Derry

• What happened: HBO Max released a surprise 30-minute special, It: Welcome to Derry – A Story of Derry, at midnight on Halloween, with no advance announcement, Variety and TV Insider reported
• The story: It is set “hundreds of years before Pennywise” and follows three young people who venture into the Western Wood, where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit
• Who made it: Tazbah Chavez directs from a script by Cherie Dimaline and Jasmyne Flournoy. The cast includes Kiawentiio, Brandon Oakes, Isabel Deroy-Olson and Zahn McClarnon
• What comes next: Season two, renewed in August, goes back to 1935 and the Great Depression, centring on the massacre of the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammunition. Brad Caleb Kane is now sole showrunner
• UK availability: HBO Max UK & Ireland is promoting the special now; in the UK the series also airs on Sky Atlantic and streams on NOW. UK TV date for the special not yet confirmed

Watch the teaser

A secret episode on Halloween night is a clever bit of showmanship, and going back before Pennywise lets the show dig into the oldest layer of Stephen King’s mythology: whatever was in the woods before there was a town. We looked ahead to what season two has in store in our Horror and Sci-Fi Brief on 17 October.

Billie Piper and Woody Norman lead Wales-set supernatural horror Sketchbook

• What happened: Billie Piper and Woody Norman (Cobweb) will star in Sketchbook, a supernatural horror for Electric Shadow, Rumble and WestEnd Films, Screen Daily and Digital Spy reported
• The story: Piper and Norman play a mother and son reunited after years apart while he was in foster care. Struggling to fit in back home, he finds a cursed sketchbook that brings anything drawn in it to life, until the drawings grow darker and he realises something inside the book is using him
• Who’s making it: Jamie Jones (Obey) directs. He says the book is “a metaphor for bullying – the fantasy of turning the tables on your tormentor”. Jay Taylor co-produces with David Lancaster (Whiplash) and Wales-based Adam Knopf
• When: Filming begins in Wales in early 2027
• UK availability: No release date yet; UK date not yet confirmed

Piper has become a fine screen actor in her own right since her days as Rose Tyler, and a grounded British horror about a lonely teenager is a good fit for her. Doctor Who fans will remember her surprise return at the end of the Gatwa era, which we wrote about in The Two Pillars of British Entertainment.

BBC Cymru Wales releases the horror short Phantasmagoria on iPlayer

• What happened: Phantasmagoria, a short psychological horror pilot created and written by sisters Hanna and Mared Jarman, was released on 30 October as part of BBC Cymru Wales’s season of four short taster films from Welsh creatives
• The story: Up-and-coming popstar Ela Rhys (Mared Jarman) and her sister-manager Sian set off on a UK tour, but beneath Ela’s polished image a nightmare begins to unfold, and she is hiding a secret that could shatter the image she has built
• Who made it: Produced by Alice Lusher at Lushkin Films
• UK availability: Streaming now on BBC iPlayer; also shown on BBC One Wales

Pilots like this are how the BBC tests ideas for full series, so a short like this is a cheap way to see whether a pop-star nightmare could run longer. It is a neat Halloween-weekend watch.

Pluribus season two is reported to start filming

• What happened: Production on the second season of Vince Gilligan’s sci-fi drama is reported to begin today, Saturday 31 October, according to MacRumors, following an earlier report from 9to5Mac. Apple has not confirmed the start date
• The story so far: Rhea Seehorn plays Carol Sturka, one of the few people unaffected when a mysterious event turns most of humanity into a contented, connected collective
• Still to come: No episode count or release window has been announced
• UK availability: Season one is streaming on Apple TV in the UK; season two UK date not yet confirmed

Gilligan’s first season was one of the most talked-about sci-fi shows of last year, and a production start, if it holds, is the first real step towards new episodes. Expect a long wait, though.

Criminal Minds: Evolution will end with season 20

• What happened: Paramount+ will bring Criminal Minds: Evolution to an end with its upcoming 20th season, which airs in 2027, Variety reported
• What they said: Showrunner Erica Messer said she was “filled with gratitude” for the cast, crew and “the incredible fans around the world whose unwavering loyalty has kept Criminal Minds going for two decades”
• Who’s in it: Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez, Paget Brewster and RJ Hatanaka
• UK availability: Criminal Minds streams on Disney+ in the UK; season 20 UK date not yet confirmed

Twenty seasons, 15 on CBS and five on Paramount+, is a remarkable run for a show about the darkest corners of crime. Getting to plan a proper ending is more than most long-running procedurals are given.

Armando Iannucci lines up James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander and Taron Egerton for a conspiracy thriller

• What happened: Armando Iannucci will write and direct an untitled conspiracy thriller starring James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander and Taron Egerton, Deadline reported. FilmNation and UTA are handling sales at the American Film Market
• Who’s making it: Kevin Loader, who produced In the Loop, The Death of Stalin and The Personal History of David Copperfield, is producing
• What we don’t know: Plot details are being kept quiet, and no title or filming date has been announced
• UK availability: No release date yet; UK date not yet confirmed

A conspiracy thriller from the man behind The Thick of It and Veep is an intriguing change of gear, and three British and European stars working with him for the first time makes this one of the more exciting packages heading into the market.

Still choosing a Halloween film for tonight? Our Halloween horror guide has plenty of ideas, and this morning’s Morning News has more Star Wars, Bond and horror news. Tell us below.

Back tomorrow with What to Watch Tonight at 7:30am and the Morning News at 8am.