IT: Welcome to Derry
Hey Everyone and welcome, today we will be talking about IT: Welcome to Derry. Fun Fact: This is the second Stephen King tv show adaptation that Bill Skarsgard has starred in, with the first being Castle Rock. This show came out in 2025 and stars Clara Stack, Amanda Christine, Taylour Paige, and Bill Skarsgard, and was created by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs. So without further ado lets get right into it.
Welcome to Derry takes place in 1962, 27 years before the losers club, when IT starts wreaking havoc on Derry. The military wants to use IT as a weapon, but needs to know where these fragments of a star are that locked him in Derry that were placed years ago by the Indigenous people who lived on the land and vowed to keep IT locked up.
Welcome to Derry is a horror show that is a spinoff of the IT movies, which is also based on a book by Stephen King. It has similar vibes to Doctor Sleep, Jeepers Creepers, or Dark.
I love the IT movies and how Andy Muschietti handled those, so I was excited for this spinoff. The show takes some things that are established in the IT films and incorporates them in this show, while also expanding much more on the lore of Derry, past interactions with IT, and some history of IT. Different storylines are going on, but all were intriguing, and it was cool to see some of the ancestors of the losers club. Andy mentioned wanting to do two more seasons in 1935 and 1908, and I'm hoping they get greenlit.
Going into this show, I knew that Stephen King had books that connect but I didn’t know that so many of them connected, and it may be a small connection, but they still connected. I knew Dick Halloran was going to be in this show, whom I knew from The Shining and Dr. Sleep, and I thought they were just adding him in here, but from my research, he is actually in the beginning of the IT novel. I loved his inclusion and how people with the shine would deal with IT, and how beneficial they would be, but also made me realize Dr. Sleep gave us so much info on how useful his abilities are. The show also brings in Maturin, Shashank, and possibly the Mist as some easter eggs.
The show was filled with great performances across the board. I think that really helped make me more invested because I was rooting for different characters, even if their storylines had them doing different things. I love how in the end the storylines merged together andthey all realized that Pennywise was definitely influencing the events in the town.
Pennywise is a shape-shifting entity that the government classifies as an alien. As I was seeing comentary of the show, I kept seeing people saying they couldn’t wait to see pennywise and I know they wanted to see Bill, but it did make me question if people knew that Pennywise was in every episode, just not as the clown that many associate with Bill because of the movies. I love seeing all of the other iterations of this character, which are all scary or, at the very least, creepy.
In the IT movie, there is still a hint of racism in Derry, and a big part of this show highlights that in the past, there was even more. Stephen King often takes inspiration from real life, so it’s no surprise that he would include the racism that is so deeply ted in with american history in his stories. The big event that the show took from the book was the Black Spot, which was a hangout for black people that a racist mob locked the patrons in and burned it down, killing many people while also attracting Pennywise. You see different Black people in different posoitions and even though some may be in higher positions of power, they still are being disrespected at some point in the show because of the color of their skin. We see Will Hanlon being bullied, the burning of the black spot, an innocent man framed for a crime, Halloran and Leroy are used and discarded. I love how they take this supernatural storyline and mix in some of the injustices that people of color would have had to deal with, which adds another layer.
Indigenous people also play a big part in this show, considering they are the ones who locked up IT in the first place. One thing I see in their storyline that mirrors real life is how white people have been racist towards them, especially when it comes to their knowledge of the environment. Instead of taking knowledge of the environment and using it for good, they use it for their own personal gain and harm people in the process. In this show, we learn the indigenous have vowed to contain IT and have kept the pillars a secret, and what does the general want to do, release it on his enemies. It’s always crazy to see indigenous people ignored because often I feel like I hear that they are doing this to protect land or people, and the government can't be bothered to listen unless they can take something that was told to them and use it for personal gain. Rose has a past with the general, and I loved how she didn’t jump to conclusions on things and would think about the best option before acting impulsively. I love how their community stuck together in the show, were smart about how they went about protecting the town, and did what they needed to do, but I was sad that Taniel ended up dying.
The show was filled with some great jump scares in every episode. With some of the scares, they also didn’t hold back on the violence and blood, which made everything feel a little more real. I think it’s hard to keep the scares up, but they managed to do it throughout the season.
Were introduced to what we think is the new losers club in episode one, which made me interested to see how they would hold up. To my surprise, most died very violently. I felt that, compared to the losers club in the film, the reason they died was that they weren’t really friends and didn’t help each other, which maybe could have gotten them out alive. I love when a show does a bait and switch well because here I am thinking this was our new losers club and bam theyre all dead. I think what really sold it is that there were connections to the losers club because Stanley Uris uncle was one of the ones killed. After this, we get a new group that realized they would have to work together, mostly to survive, but also because no one else would listen to them.
Looking back after the finale, where IT talks about him not seeing time as linear, makes me realize some of the targets are intentional. IT has a cycle every 27 years, and while we've seen 1989 and 2016 in the movies, this show mainly is in 1962 but also incorporates 1935 and 1908 a little bit as well to show how he’s always been lurking. Ancestors of Stanley, Mike, and Richie from the losers’ club were attacked and helped keep IT locked up this time around, and IT knows in the future that they will destroy it, so it really seems like going after them was very specific.
Chris Chalk did fantastic as Dick halloran who was so useful but also got worn out. It was great that he was able to help the other black military men, but it goes to show that the government doesn’t give a damn about you as long asyou can help them achieve their goals. I love how he can hold off IT for a bit, showing how useful his abilities are. Later, IT opens a box of his, and I was very confused about what it was, but then I was reminded of the scene from Dr. Sleep where he was teaching Danny Torrance that you take those scary things and lock them away, and IT was able to unlock his scary thing, which he was having problems putting back away. It’s kind of impressive how he is learning about his abilities on his own because even though he had his grandmother, her knowledge was limited. It was hilarious how he went into IT's house basically, and IT was like who are you? In the end, he was instrumental in helping keep IT inside the barrier because he is on person who could hold IT for a short period of time. In the end, he says he’s going to a hotel a friend owns and asks how bad can a hotel be, and people who know him know that that hotel will be the death of him.
Madeline Stowe plays Ingrid Kersh, who is a character I think many may have forgotten that we met before, even though it was really just IT using her likeness. In IT chapter 2, Beverly goes to visit her old apartment, and Mrs. Kersh is living there. On the wall, we see a picture of her dad in a circus, and he looks like pennywise but it’s hard to tell without the makeup. as Bev is looking at this she starts shapeshifting and comes after Bev, I thought the whole thing was pulled out of thin air but to my surprise the story is partialy true as shown in this show. Madeline did great as this woman who was longing for her dad and never really got over it, and the trauma from that made her do some of the worst things possible because she thought IT was her dad and IT liked that she helped to feed him. The scene where she first sees him was cool because it was in black and white, but the only thing that was in color was his eyes and blood. She was mentally unwell to start with, but IT taking the shape of her dad made it worse. In the end, she tells Pennywise that she loves him, and at that moment Pennywise looks disgusted, and she finally gets hit by a dose of reality, and she knows that isn’t her dad, but he uses the deadlights on her whihch leads her to a mental institute. I found her character interesting and even more interesting that she was the clown we saw sometimes, not Pennywise.
The government said they wanted to use IT against its enemies, which was a lie. In the end, they want to use it because there is so much separation and division in america and they think fear will unite people. This highlights the ignorance of people in power because just because you want something to go one way, that doesn’t mean it will, and not having a plan if things don’t go right is reckless. Furthermore, you, as a human, thinking you can convince or control an entity that you don’t know about is crazy. IT is extremely dangerous, and the general got what he deserved when he thought he could control IT, and IT looked at him like a part of a meal he forgot about.
As of late, a TV show theme will rarely stick with me and make me want to watch it everytime but this show did. It sounds fun and creepy at the same time. As soon as I heard "a smile is something special, a ribbon is something rare, so I’ll be special, and I’ll be rare,” I was locked in and dancing along. Visuals are playing in the background of someevents in Derry, and I’m interested to see how those get incorporated if there are later seasons.
In supernatural shows, there are always deaths whiich some are whatever, and some are sad, but sometimes someone dies in a way that isnt supernatural, which is always sad. Richie was a prime example of this in IT who sacrificed himself to save Marge. When the racist mob decides burn down a building with people inside, they kill Richie, who was inside as well. We got to know the kid over the season, and while it would’ve been sad to see him go anyway, its extremly sad that his death isn’t even because of Pennywise its because of racism that is just as deeply rooted in Derry as Pennywise. I never would’ve expected to be crying about that, but it was such a shock and so sad. However, I love how in the final episode, his ghost not only flips off Pennywise but also helps his friends prevent Pennywise from getting out.
My favorite part of the show was Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, or IT, or Bob Gray, who should definitely get an Emmy for this role. I’ve loved him in this role, and it always amazes me how much is practical, but even with the effects, it all looks good. He has the facial expressions down, the drooling, the walk, and most importantly, the dance down to a tee. He not only takes on the Pennywise version of IT, but also Bob Gray, from whom he stole the idea of Pennywise, because Bob Gray could attract kids because he was a clown. I love that we get to see back story on why the clown, but also why kids, which is because they are easier to scare. Bill’s line delivery is perfect to deliver the right reaction. Sometimes he’s serious, like when he is killing someone or convincing Periwinkle to help him, but sometimes his lines make me laugh, like Ronnie looking at him in horror, and he says, what? Is there face on my face? as he is eating a face. When Bill makes his appearance as Pennywise, I was surprised because I thought that Matty really came back, and it was him, so he also is good at tricking people into a trap, and he comes back looking refreshed. Later, when he is woken up, he gets a small outfit adjustment, which was creepy but also really cool because the red pops, and then you realize it’s blood. Bill is generational casting because he does such a good job in this role that makes me laugh and get scared.
Welcome to Derry was a great way to expand the IT or Stephen King universe. There is so much to love about the show and its definetly one of the best horror tv shows I’ve seen. I hope we get more seasons because I’m interested to see what they do.
