'IT: Welcome To Derry' Creators Discuss Ending Of Episode 3

TV & Film

Nov 11

The makers of IT: Welcome to Derry continue to tease Pennywise’s return in the series. Episode 3 dropped on Sunday, and fans finally heard a mention of the word “clown”, which is the closest reference to Pennywise since the season started. IT continues to be an ominous presence in the series, taking on different terrifying forms, including a mutant baby, a lampshade made of a human face, a pickle jar with human remains, and an evil incarnation of a character’s mother giving birth. At the end of Episode 3, the kids take a picture of a glowing figure hiding in the depths of the crypt inside the Derry cemetery. The photo, taken by Will, appears to show a figure resembling Pennywise, dressed in a white clown costume, with the reddish glow of his wig.

Although this seems to hint that Pennywise is lurking nearby, and he may appear in the series soon, showrunners Brad Caleb Kane and Jason Fuchs don’t want fans to jump to conclusions yet. When asked whether Episode 3 featured the first look at Pennywise in Welcome to Derry, Kane was noncommittal and said, “I don’t know. We think it is…as you can tell by the end of the first episode, we tried to pull the rug out from underneath the audience.” While Fuchs says he believes it is Pennywise, the duo doesn’t say anything for certain, leaving it up to fans to interpret things before Episode 4 drops next week. Meanwhile, the young actors who play the unfortunate kids who are plagued by IT say they watched the 2017 movie and its 2019 sequel to get into character. Amanda Chistine, who plays Ronnie, and Clara Stack, who plays Lilly, revealed they had to dig deep to reach a vulnerable place for a few scenes.

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While fans might be frustrated that Pennywise hasn’t appeared yet, the creative team, including Kane, Fuchs, and the Muschiettis, believed the audience knows what to expect from him after the two movies. The longer that he’s kept hidden, the more terrifying he becomes. Their challenge was to make him as terrifying as possible and to answer some longstanding questions about the shapeshifting entity. Fuchs says the series aims to answer, “Why is it that IT, who can take virtually any form under the sun as a shape shifter, chooses to keep coming back to this form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown? Obviously, the book has hints and suggestions…but what does it all mean? What is it that draws IT to this form? We wanted to explore why an inter-dimensional entity, who is a creature of light in its most natural state, why that being would choose to remain in Derry.” IT: Welcome to Derry, streams Sunday nights on HBO Max, and airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

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