It: Welcome to Derry is taking Stephen King’s story in bold new directions, and according to the creatives who make the show, it will answer two key questions concerning Pennywise from the novel.
Welcome to Derry is one of the best TV shows of 2025 so far, with the series serving as a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s two It movies, while extending and expanding on the Pennywise mythos.
The show has inspired debate and fan theories online, including conversations about an It: Chapter Two Easter egg that was hiding in plain site, and multiple connections to some of Stephen King’s best books.
It: Welcome to Derry Episode 4 airs on HBO Max this Sunday (November 16), and according to the show’s writers, the next instalment will edge their story closer to answering questions fans have been asking for decades…
It: Welcome to Derry will solve these major Pennywise mysteries
We know that the evil entity at the heart of the It novel, movies, and show is an alien, but why does it mainly assume the form that creepy clown, and what’s so special about the town of Derry that Pennywise remains in that location?
Co-showrunner and executive producer Jason Fuchs says answers are coming on both fronts.
“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?” he asks Deadline, somewhat rhetorically.
“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. There are denser, seemingly more interesting hunting grounds beyond its environs? Why does it stay there?”
We also haven’t seen much of Pennywise in the opening episodes, but that’s set to change as Season 1 progresses, and Fuchs’ fellow showrunner Brad Caleb Kane says it’s going to get scary.
“There’s a tendency in horror series, as the series goes along, for people to lean on the comedy of it and for it to feel less horrific,” Kane tells Deadline in the same article. “People love Pennywise as a character now. He’s funny, he’s spooky, but is he truly scary anymore once you’ve taken him into your life and made him a part of the pop culture in the way he’s become?”
Kane continues: “I think so, yes, he is definitely still scary, but we wanted to go back… and really make him scary again, as scary as possible [to] really make the fears that much higher [and] really make the set pieces that much scarier.”
10 Best LEGO Sets in 2025