IT: Welcome to Derry finale changed for a surprising reason

IT: Welcome to Derry has been years in the making, and the ending of the horror prequel changed during production, for an unexpected reason.

Welcome to Derry is a prequel to the movies It and It: Chapter Two, made by the creative team behind those films, Andy Muschietti and Barbara Mushietti.

Mining Stephen King‘s source novel for material, and crafting fresh back-story, the show plays out in 1962, when Pennywise was busy terrorising the titular town.

Welcome to Derry is currently two episodes into its eight episode run, but talk is already turning to the finale, what it sets up, and how it changed during production.

How the Hollywood strikes affected IT: Welcome to Derry

Welcome to Derry started shooting before the writer and actor strikes in 2023, with just three of the eight episodes nearing completion before that lengthy break.

So rather than story or performance issues causing trouble, it was that delay which gave the creators a headache.

“We suddenly had to work in different seasons,” Barbara explained to SFX Magazine. “This is a summer show, but suddenly it wasn’t a summer show any more. We had to create a different finale with a different climate.”

Andy adds of that time: “The kids were growing. Voices were changing. Schedules of actors suddenly became hellish. So it was a huge challenge for the studio as well.”

Barbara Muschietti believes IT ending will “destroy” fans

The IT series has a three-season arc that moves back in time, so just as Season 1 is set in 1962, 27 years before the events of IT, so Season 2 will play out in 1935, and Season 3 in 1908.

“There is a reason why we decided to tell this story and specifically tell it backwards,” Andy explained Collider. “There is satisfaction at the end of Season 1, but there is definitely a question mark at the end of it. I cannot spoil it yet, but you will meet it in episode eight and then decide if you want to see more.”

In terms of how audiences might react to that ending, Barbara believes fans will be “destroyed,” while Andy calls it a “very emotional ending.”

“The work we did in the writers’ room, and then in the execution, all the feelings were really magnified,” revealed Andy. “I think it’s a very emotional ending. There’s a feeling of closure. Of course, everybody that knows the movies knows that IT is alive in 1989, but there is a trick.

“There’s something that happens and it’s related to the reason we’re telling the story backwards. Nothing is what it looks like in this world, let me put it that way. I can’t be too clear about it. Nothing is what it looks like.”