It: Welcome to Derry creator says the finale's fog is "unrelated" to Stephen King's The Mist before immediately explaining how they are, in fact, related

Across its eight-episode run, It: Welcome to Derry has been bursting with Easter eggs – most of which were deep-cut novel references and wider nods to Stephen King's other works, like Carrie or The Shawshank Redemption.

In the finale, as General Shaw and the military forced It out of his 27-year hibernation, a fog descended upon the titular town. It looked, admittedly, a lot like the haze in King's 1980 thriller The Mist, which sees protagonist David Drayton forced to hide from the vicious creatures lurking in the gloom inside a supermarket. According to a new interview with director Andy Muschietti, though, it's "not" a allusion to the other tale even if it is "related"...

"Of course, in The Mist, they say that the mist comes from the Todash Field, the same interdimensional plane that It is from," he told Variety, confusing us all further. "So it's unrelated, but it's also related.

"I wanted to use the fog to visually illustrate the expansion of the clouds that surround the Dead Lights. When we see the meteor crash into Derry in episode 4, we see the three Dead Lights dancing around this cloud of fog. The physical element is established there, and for this story, I wanted to show that it is an expansive force."

While It: Welcome to Derry season 2 has yet to be officially greenlit, it seems like a dead cert that more episodes are on the way. Post-finale, Muschietti elaborated on his three-season plan for the show, confirming that the second chapter will feature the return of some existing characters despite being set further in the past. They'll just look a little fresher-faced...

"It takes place during the Depression in Derry, and there are some new characters and some characters from this season as well, but younger versions of them," he explained to the aforementioned publication.

It: Welcome to Derry is streaming now on HBO Max. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting new TV shows heading our way or our deep-dive into this year's many Stephen King adaptations.