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Why Pennywise Isn’t in IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 1 (The Replacements Are Just As Scary)
It, the entity who has been plaguing the town of Derry, Maine, and the minds of readers and viewers since Stephen King’s book carrying that same name released in 1986, is back on screens in IT: Welcome to Derry. However, the character’s most common and famous form – Pennywise the Dancing Clown – has not yet appeared in the HBO series, which serves as a prequel to the two IT movies that released last decade.
The character is confirmed to appear eventually, will Bill Skarsgård reprising the role he played so brilliantly (and terrifyingly) in the IT movies, with an executive producer credit to boot. However, the show is taking a deliberately patient and cautious approach to unveiling the clown. Speaking with ScreenRant, co-creator Barbara Muschietti explained: “I’ve said this before, but he is our shark. You’ve got to bring him out with all his complexity in the right moments, otherwise It loses its power. I am absolutely convinced that he is still as terrifying as he is because of that dose-ification.”
Adding to that, Andy Muschietti (who directed the IT movies and the first four episodes of Welcome to Derry, as well as co-developing the series), said that the approach will make sense in terms of the story, and a desire to keep audiences guessing, saying: “He’s there, but he’s not. Or he’s not there, but he is.” That actually makes sense, and fits with the use of It in the first episode, which has some replacements for Pennywise. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1, Episode 1.
IT: Welcome To Derry Has More Horrors Than Just Pennywise
Another reason for the delayed introduction Pennywise is to explore some of It’s other forms – in the book, the creature takes around 30 or so, though the clown is the main one – and that’s something we get a taste of right from the very first episode. Right from the get-go, It’s presence is felt in chilling fashion as young runaway Matty Clements hitchhikes a ride in the wrong car.
The tension ratchets up, from the initial sense that something is off to the full-blown horror of a graphic birth and flying monster baby. But there are even glimpses of Pennywise in the eyes and smiles of the characters. It’s extremely effective, and that opening is perhaps the best scene in the episode, because it’s so creepy and rooted in the horrifying idea that It could appear anywhere, at any time, in any guise.
There’s more to come, too, with a lampshade nightmare and then the return of that baby, more horrible than ever as it kills some of the members of what initially seemed to be Welcome to Derry‘s version of the Losers Club. While the CGI is a little iffy – and, like the IT movies, the scares are more effective when it’s reliant on performance and suspense than digital creations – it’s nonetheless a great twist to have those kids killed off before Pennywise has even been seen, because it makes everything feel more unpredictable. After all, if that’s what they’re doing now, in episode 1, what hell will be unleashed when the clown appears?
We might actually know part of the answer to that already. Welcome to Derry will adapt the burning of The Black Spot from one of the interludes in King’s novel. The Black Spot is a nightclub in Derry that’s mostly frequented by Black customers – and co-founded by The Shining‘s Dick Hallorann in the book – that’s burned down in a racially-motivated attack by white supremacists, though there’s also a suggestion of Pennywise’s influence. Presumably, the show will commit to that story, and it’ll be one of the big sequences to involve the clown once it finally turns up, which will likely be a few episodes in.
That itself also speaks to why IT: Welcome to Derry can afford to use Pennywise sparingly, however: because there are real-world horrors to explore in this series as well. Even just from episode 1, the show is touching on the racism of the town – and the 1962 setting positions it well for the Civil Rights movement – alongside nuclear fears. The show is going to entwine those with It/Pennywise, and that combination of monsters that are both men and mystical, should allow the show to be truly terrifying.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry release Sundays at 9pm on HBO and HBO Max.
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