Much like Pennywise, IT: Welcome to Derry is a strange, curious beast. Both don't quite fit where they're supposed to, transcending time and space in the most unlikely manner. It's true of Pennywise, because he's an interdimensional entity of unfathomable cosmic origin. But it's also true of the show itself.
Welcome to Derry is a prequel that unravels backwards, starting in 1962 before plans to jump further back to 1935 in (the currently unconfirmed) second season and then 1908 in the planned third and final season. But why take us further and further into the past when we already know the outcome?
That's true of any prequel to some degree, and it's not like season 1 hasn't delivered with a few surprises of its own. But wouldn't it have made more sense to start in 1908 and work our way forward to IT: Chapters One and Two, where Pennywise will be defeated?
Filmmaker Andy Muschietti teased that there might be something more to this plan back in October during an interview with Collider, where he said: "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." But it wasn't until the season 1 finale when Muschietti's plan, and by extension, Pennywise's, finally fell into place.
Warning: there are major spoilers for the IT: Welcome to Derry finale ahead – turn back now if you haven't seen the episode and don't want to know what happens!
Keep it in the family
Episode 8 begins with Pennywise reawakening after one of the pillars that sealed him in was suddenly removed. Free to renew his reign of dancing terror, everyone's favorite demon clown uses the Deadlights on an entire cohort of school children, including Will.
Lilly, Ronnie, and Marge follow in pursuit, until they are confronted by Pennywise out on the ice. Their dagger, made of the same material that traps It in Derry, could only fend him off so long before he pulls Marge's feet out from under her, separating the one-eyed wonder from her friends.
With Marge now alone on the ice, Pennywise begins to taunt her, and it quickly becomes apparent that he didn't just pick her out at random. "I’ve always wondered how you taste, Margaret Tozier," says Pennywise. "But not yet… First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Richie in the baby carriage… Unless he dies with you?"
Marge, being a literal child and all, is as confused as she is scared by this point. "Your son!" continues Pennywise. "The seed of your stinking loins and his friends bring me my death. Or is it birth? I get confused. Today, tomorrow, yesterday... All the same for little Pennywise. It’s not always easy being caged up in one place, one time."
It makes sense that a being of cosmic origin would see time differently, experiencing different eras all at once. But this is the first time that Pennywise has actually revealed this to be the case. And the implications of that are positively game-changing, not just for Welcome to Derry, but the IT franchise at large.
There's little time to dwell on this just yet, however, because Pennywise is about to make shish kebab out of Marge with his teeth. Thankfully, Dick Hallorann steps in and psychically freezes the monster just in time.
Back to the future
The biggest shock of all this is the confirmation that Marge is in fact the future mother of Richie Tozier, Finn Wolfhard's character in the IT movies who helps defeat Pennywise for good. The Dancing Clown even shows Marge a picture of her unborn child in one of the missing posters put up during Pennywise's future reign of terror.
Fans have long suspected this to be the case, especially after Rich sacrificed himself to save Marge in 'The Black Spot.' It makes sense that she would name her child after the boy she loved to honor his memory. But there's more to this scene than just a mere twist or fun little Easter Egg.
Marge and Lilly unpack this later after the gang stops Pennywise and (seemingly) saves the day. "[Pennywise] said I’m gonna have a son and that he and his friends… They kill him in the future. That’s why he wanted to kill me. He said to him the past, present and future are all the same and that his death was actually his birth."
The day has been saved in 1962, just like it will be saved by the next group of kids in 1989, but what if Pennywise had managed to kill Marge? Doing so would have unwritten the events of the film which led to his eventual demise. And it doesn't stop there either.
"What if [It] does see time differently?" wonders Marge. "What if he can go backwards? I know it sounds crazy, but what if he tries to go back and kill someone in the time before we were born, like our parents."
"I guess it’ll be someone else’s fight," Lilly replies, and then the kids move on, free to mourn Rich and celebrate their victory over Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
But we can't move on from that. Not yet. Because this means that every season of the show is connected far more deeply than we could have ever predicted. We're not just diving back into the history of Derry and what happens each time Pennywise wakes up. We're now following It traveling back in time to undo his own demise, changing the past to save himself in the future.
This big reveal ups the stakes considerably, because there's a wider battle to be fought now. Even the victory against Pennywise in the movies that preceded this show is under threat. And because we're traveling backwards, the kids in the past who will have to deal with all this can't even be told what they need to do or how to win.
Just like that, it suddenly becomes very clear why Muschietti and his team chose to work backwards in this way, setting up not just the next season but the entire premise of the show itself. Despite this being a prequel, we have no idea what's to come, and everything we do know could change at the drop of a hat or a simple two-step thanks to Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
All episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry are now streaming on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the best new TV shows on the way in 2026.
