TV Academy Rules Out 'A Story of Derry' for 2027 Emmys

A 30-minute runtime is what sinks it. HBO's "It: Welcome to Derry" Halloween installment, "A Story of Derry," has been ruled ineligible for the 2027 Emmys by the Television Academy, which confirmed the special qualifies for no program categories at all.

The ruling closes a genuinely ambiguous case in the rulebook. "A Story of Derry" dropped for Halloween 2025, a year after the prequel series concluded its first season in December 2024, and it explores the backstory of Stephen King's interdimensional terror centuries before it took the form of a dancing clown.

A Television Academy representative delivered the verdict plainly: "Since it's not part of a season, it's not considered an orphaned episode. Unfortunately, the special doesn't meet eligibility requirements for any program categories."

Why didn't the orphaned-episode rule apply?

The orphaned-episode provision covers installments that belong to a season's run but air after the May 30 eligibility closing date. Such episodes roll into the subsequent Emmys — but only if a new season does not return before then.

The recent template is "Widow's Bay." Its final three episodes aired in June on Apple TV+, and because the series will not be back in time, those episodes can be submitted in what the Academy calls "certain individual achievement categories" — most crafts and guest-acting fields, though not body-of-work categories such as Best Series or lead and supporting performers.

"A Story of Derry" fails this test at the first hurdle. It was produced outside any season's run, so the orphaned provision never engaged.

What about the special-episode route?

The second theoretical path was special-episode classification, which covers installments produced outside a normal season. The Academy's customary bar is movie-length: at least 75 minutes. "A Story of Derry" runs a half-hour. That is less than half the threshold. No path survives.

What remains eligible, and when?

The parent series has already had its turn. "Welcome to Derry" was eligible at the 2026 Emmys, where it drew nominations for Best VFX and Best Opening Title Sequence.

HBO renewed the show in August for the second of three planned seasons. Executive producer Barbara Muschietti told Gold Derby in May that "we are very actively working on the scripts," but Andy Muschietti describes the series as "basically eight movies," and it is not expected back until late 2027 at the earliest.

That timeline points the series toward the 2028 Emmys, leaving a one-year gap with nothing eligible from the franchise.

Who made the special?

The installment carries notable names, even if the Academy will not reward them for it:

• Tazbah Chavez directed; she is an Emmy nominee for "Reservation Dogs"
• Cherie Dimaline and Jasmyne Flournoy wrote the script
• Zahn McClarnon of "Dark Winds" joins in a pivotal role
• Flashback actors from Episode 4 — Morningstar Angeline (Sesqui), Kiawentiio (Necani), Isabel Deroy-Olson (Kino) and Michael Podemski-Bedard (Maneese) — reprise their roles, alongside Season 1 co-star Kimberly Guerrero

The episode built on lore established in Episode 4, "The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet's Function," where the creature was known to local Indigenous peoples as "the Galloo" and preyed on those entering the Western Woods.

Ineligible does not mean unsuccessful. "A Story of Derry" served its Halloween purpose as a bridge between seasons. The real awards play now waits until 2028, when Season 2 — or perhaps another surprise from the Muschiettis — arrives.