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IT: Welcome to Derry’s Arian S. Cartaya Reveals When He Knew THAT Twist
Spoilers will follow for IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1. After the first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, the team behind the hit Stephen King series made one thing very clear to the audience: you cannot bet on anyone to survive this. After killing off major characters immediately, the creatives confirmed that no one was safe as the series progressed. Though fans were well aware of this, they let their guard down, and as a result, were shocked when Episode 7’s tragic fire at The Black Spot claimed a young victim, Rich Santos, as played by Arian S. Cartaya.
Speaking with ComicBook, Arian S. Cartaya pulled back the curtain on the making of the series and when he found out about Rich’s fate. Not only that, he had a shocking revelation about his history with Stephen King and told us about when he found out the truth about his character’s larger place in IT lore.
IT: Welcome to Derry’s Rich Reveals How They Made the Series
Cartaya revealed that he didn’t know what Rich’s fate would be in IT: Welcome to Derry until he read the script for the show’s seventh episode, “The Black Spot,” but that co-creators Andy and Barbara Muschietti had a meeting with him where they talked him through every detail.
“I’m trying to remember (when he found out,” Cartaya said. “I think it was right when we got the script. I was reading through it, and episode seven came and I had some meetings with, Andy and Barbara, and we were talking about everything, and they just brought it up.
In that same meeting, Cartaya revealed that Andy Muschietti confirmed to him the detail that many fans have theorized, that Marge would one day go on to have a son she would named after him, Richie Tozier.
“We definitely talked it through,” he said. “It was in the meeting about all The Black Spot stuff. He did say I had to do some of that. Yeah, It’s confirmed.”
Cartaya also revealed he was at least a little relieved from his meetings with the Muschiettis since they confirmed that his character wouldn’t be dying from Pennywise himself. This made sense in the story since Rich had never really expressed much fear for IT like the other kids in the eries. That said, Cartaya had a different perspective.
“Rich wasn’t scared, but I was crapping my pants, I was terrified,” Cartaya revealed about acting opposite Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. “I remember that scene when we filmed that scene, I was off set, and I was just hearing him warm up and his movements and all of his preparation for the character. It’s really impressive, but it’s also terrifying at the same time.”
Working with Skarsgård on set as IT marked the first time that Cartaya had ever even seen Pennywise in any form too, as the actor confirmed prior to filming he had never read a Stephen King book, seen a Stephen King movie, or watched any of the IT adaptations. When they got to set though, the cast all watched the first film together.
“It was scary because I remember I had just turned ten and I was terrified of, like, all, all clowns and all those scary stuff. So I was terrified. I remember in the first scene where Pennywise eats Georgie’s arm. I called for my mom. My mom was, like, all the way up there, and I was in the front with my friends, and I’m like, Blake, you need to move my mom’s coming, I’m terrified.”
The good news for Cartaya is that after seeing how the sausage is made, he’s not afraid of horror movies anymore.
“I think once I’ve seen the big Pennywise in person, I feel like nothing can top that. And nothing can scare me anymore.”
IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 is now streaming on HBO Max.
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