It: Welcome To Derry dives into the origins behind Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
Created by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, the prequel series takes place in 1962, 27 years prior to events in 2017 film It, as the residents of Derry are once again haunted by the cosmic creature.
Like other screen adaptations, the series is based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel. Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo and Clara Stack lead the show’s cast, alongside James Remar, Stephen Rider, Matilda Lawler, Amanda Christine, Blake Cameron James and Bill Skarsgård.
All eight episodes of It: Welcome To Derry are available to stream on NOW in the UK.
What happens at the end of It: Welcome To Derry?
Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack), Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler), and Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine) all manage to stop Pennywise the Clown, a shapeshifting evil entity, from breaking beyond the confines of Derry.
They do this by burying a magical dagger (made from the remnants of a fallen star that imprisoned the entity centuries prior) under a tree which reactivates the ancient cage preventing the evil from spreading to the rest of the world. They don’t do this alone, however, as the ghost of Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya) helps plunge the dagger into place.
Pennywise is once again imprisoned, but as anyone familiar with It knows, the evil reawakens in 27 years time. The final scene of It: Welcome To Derry connects to the 2017 film adaptation, as Ingrid Kersh – the daughter of the original Pennywise performer Bob Gray – witnesses the death of Beverly Marsh’s mum in the mental asylum 26 years later.
In the scene, Sophia Lillis reprises her role as Beverly from 2017’s It. As Beverly and her father mourn the loss of her mother, an older Ingrid tells Beverly not to worry, as in Derry “no one ever really dies”.
What do we learn about Pennywise in the finale?
When Pennywise attacks Marge, who is revealed to be the mother of Richie (Finn Wolfhard) from the 2017 film, the clown explains how his perception of time is nonlinear. In other words, he can see the future and the past – but it’s unclear if he can travel through time in the conventional sense. “Tomorrow, yesterday, it’s all the same for little Pennywise,” he cackles.
While it’s unclear how this works exactly, Pennywise in It: Welcome To Derry is aware of his death in It: Chapter Two. This is why he wants to kill Marge and her friends, to stop her from giving birth to Richie who, along with the Losers Club, help cause his demise 27 years later. It inevitably opens up a can of time paradox plot holes though, but maybe that will be explained further in the planned second season.
How does It: Welcome To Derry connect to The Shining?
The show connects to Stephen King’s other classic novel through the presence of Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), an airman who eventually becomes the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in the 1977 book. In It: Welcome To Derry’s final episode, Hallorann uses his telepathic abilities to stall Pennywise, allowing Marge and the other kids to imprison the clown back in his cage.
After Pennywise is sealed away, Hallorann states he’s leaving Derry behind to work in a hotel kitchen in London. “How much trouble can a hotel be?” he remarks, which is a clear nod to The Shining, even if the hotel where he eventually meets the Torrance family is in Colorado.