New It: Welcome to Derry behind-the-scenes clip proves Bill Skarsgård is terrifying as Pennywise with or without VFX

A new behind-the-scenes clip from It: Welcome to Derry episode 8 has arrived, and it proves that Bill Skarsgård doesn't need any CGI to be completely and totally terrifying as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

The brief clip, which can be viewed below, shows us a pre-VFX and a post-VFX version of the season finale when Lilly, Will, Marge, and Ronnie are struggling to place the cosmic dagger back into the ground in order to send Pennywise back to sleep for another 27 years. In the top clip, Skarsgård is screaming into the camera with just his Pennywise makeup on - and it's somehow scarier (to me, anyway) than the bottom clip that edits in a darker sky, swirling snow, and those piercing yellow eyes.

Oh, and that voice is also real. If you're a Stranger Things fan, you might be aware that while Jamie Campbell Bower plays Vecna and does his voice, the voice is then edited in post to sound just a little bit deep and a little more menacing. Skarsgård, however, is able to just kind of...sound like that. Not to mention the fact that, aside from the SFX-applied enlarged head and hair, those creepy facial expressions are also just...Bill's face. No edits needed there, either.

Though It: Welcome to Derry season 1 has come to a close, Andy Muschietti has plans for two more seasons of the hit prequel series, and that means at least 16 more episodes of Pennywise doing his little dance-y dance while eating children and preying on their deepest darkest fears. Woohoo!

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.