It: Welcome to Derry ending explained – who died and who survived the wrath of Pennywise?

**Warning: Contains full spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry season 1 episode 8.**

As a huge fan of ‘It,’ I was blown away by ‘Welcome to Derry’! The finale was absolutely terrifying and packed with gore. Seeing Pennywise unleashed, finally free from those constraints, was truly frightening. It just reinforced what we already knew: in Derry, nobody is ever really safe. It was a perfect ending to a truly scary series.

Last week’s episode featured a heartbreaking moment when beloved contestant Rich Santos bravely saved Margie Truman from a fire. However, the finale quickly moved on without allowing time to mourn his loss.

A thick fog descended on Derry after Pennywise escaped, and when the killer clown kidnapped Will Hanlon, Margie, Lily Bainbridge, and Ronnie Grogan knew they had to rescue him.

Dick Hallorann, Hank Grogan, Leroy, Charlotte Hanlon, Rose, and her nephew Taniel trailed behind, trying to give the children a head start.

The finale of ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ was intense and fast-paced, featuring major character deaths and surprising developments in the story’s connection to Stephen King’s wider world.

It: Welcome to Derry season 1 ending explained

Why did Pennywise kidnap the children of Derry High School?

After General Shaw’s evil scheme to demolish the thirteenth pillar – a plan meant to unleash the terrifying Pennywise across the country – the monstrous clown gained immense power and blanketed the town in a thick fog.

Pennywise, the creature who thrives on children’s fear, went to Derry High School and tricked all the students into the auditorium. He then put on a terrifying show using the body of Principal Dunleavy, and used his powers to hypnotize everyone. This allowed him to take them to the frozen river just outside of town.

Now free from his confinement, Pennywise planned to maximize fear throughout the United States and abduct as many children as he could from Derry.

What was the dagger doing to Lily?

While the dagger seemed to offer protection against Pennywise, it was also negatively affecting Lily’s thoughts. Once Lily, Ronnie, and Margie understood that their classmates had been kidnapped, they resolved to stop Pennywise and rescue everyone, including Will.

The girls, carrying a dagger, followed a trail of blood leading away from the high school. They drove the truck belonging to the murdered milkman deeper into the woods. Unbeknownst to them, the dagger had a will of its own – it longed to be back at the place where it was broken, and was slowly causing Lily to lose her mind the farther they travelled from Derry.

After Margie had a minor accident with the milk truck just outside of town, Lily became extremely agitated whenever someone tried to take a dagger she was holding. Ronnie and Margie noticed something was wrong and questioned her. When Lily ran off, they pursued her, and Margie was able to get the dagger from her. Once free from its power, Lily broke down in tears and apologized for her behavior.

A little later, the dagger started to glow while Margie held it, and the girls knew Pennywise was nearby. They rushed to the riverbank and saw the missing children floating above the frozen surface.

How did the adults track down the girls and find Pennywise?

Still at the army base, Leroy Hanlon received a disturbing call from Pennywise and understood that Will had been captured. He then found Dick Hallorann, who was contemplating suicide with a gun, and managed to talk him out of it. Leroy convinced Hallorann to help him rescue his son instead.

When Leroy and Hallorann found Charlotte, Hank, Rose, and her nephew Taniel, they explained everything that had happened. The group then made a plan: Rose, whose ancestors had once trapped Pennywise, shared that Hallorann’s psychic powers could help locate a special dagger. This dagger could act as the final piece needed to re-seal Pennywise’s cage.

To stop the clown, they need to hide the dagger underground before he gets to the large pine tree on the river’s south side. That tree is the farthest the dagger’s power can reach to connect with the other magical pillars.

Rose offers Hallorann a unique tea, claiming it will silence the disturbing voices he’s hearing and link him to the world connected to Pennywise. She explains that not everything in that realm is malicious, and believes that embracing it will ultimately allow him to block out unwanted intrusions from others.

After taking a drink, something clicked with Hallorann, and suddenly he was seeing Lily, Margie, and Ronnie out in the woods. They hopped into Taniel’s van, and I, as a viewer, followed along as Hallorann kept pursuing them, trying to figure out what was going on.

What was Margie’s link to Richie Tozier and The Losers’ Club?

Okay, so picture this: Lily, Ronnie, and I were making our way across the ice, and there he was – Will, just floating near Pennywise’s creepy old circus trailer. Then, he came out, Pennywise, of course, immediately starting to mess with us. It was awful. Before we could even react, he snatched Margie and just…pulled her away from us. It happened so fast!

As Pennywise prepared to kill her, he confused Margie, calling her ‘Margaret Tozier.’ He eerily predicted her future – marriage, becoming Margie Tozier, and having a son named Richie Tozier.

Pennywise showed her a missing person poster of Richie, played by Finn Wolfhard in the first It movie, and threatened that Richie would disappear if Pennywise killed her first. He explained that Richie and his friends, known as The Losers’ Club, would eventually cause his end – or perhaps his beginning – because time doesn’t really matter to him; the past, present, and future are all the same to Pennywise.

Still following the girls, Hallorann used his psychic powers to get inside Pennywise’s head and stop him from hurting Margie.

Now that Pennywise was immobilized, the children he’d taken fell onto the ice and snapped out of their daze. Just then, Taniel, Hanlon, Charlotte, Rose, Hank, and Hallorann reached the frozen lake. The adults then guided the high school students back to the north side of the lake.

Did the group defeat Pennywise?

Yes, they succeeded, but it was a difficult and dangerous mission. Taniel and Hanlon tried to hide and bury the dagger, but were attacked by General Shaw and his soldiers. Taniel was fatally wounded, but thankfully Leroy was unharmed. Knowing the military was closing in, Leroy instructed Will and the others to use the fog to conceal themselves and finish the job – planting the dagger.

Will, Lily, Ronnie, and Margie hurried towards the deadwood while Shaw instructed his team to rescue Hallorann. Shaw then approached a frozen Pennywise himself. But when Hallorann was removed from the van, severing his psychic link to Pennywise, the clown thawed out and, recognizing Shaw as the boy he’d encountered in 1908, brutally killed him.

Just as Will and his friends were nearing the deadwood, the dagger started controlling him, pulling him away. Margie, Lily, and Ronnie struggled to bring Will and the dagger back to the tree, but Pennywise began chasing after them. To give the kids a chance, Leroy, Grogan, and Hallorann fought off the soldiers nearby. Leroy then fired a gun at Pennywise, which slowed the creature down.

I was on the edge of my seat! Lily, Ronnie, Will, and Margie were all trying to get the dagger down from the tree, but it seemed to be resisting them – almost fighting back. Then, out of nowhere, Hallorann saw the Native American warrior who’d originally guided him, and chillingly, Richie’s ghost was right there with her.

Richie sprinted across the ice, taunting Pennywise with a rude gesture before joining his friends to drive the dagger into the ground, trapping the clown once again. With Pennywise defeated and gone, Margie, Lily, Ronnie, and Will all felt an extra hand help them, and they guessed it had been Richie.

What happened after the battle on the ice?

Lily, Ronnie, and Will were at Richie’s funeral, offering support to his parents while Margie gave a speech remembering him. Hallorann, who was also there, thought he saw Richie in the crowd, standing with his arm around his father and Will.

After the funeral, I saw Hallorann sitting with Richie’s parents. He’d seemed to find a little calm with his powers after Rose gave him that tea, and he told them the hand they’d felt on their shoulders was Richie, just letting them know he was there and offering them some peace.

As the children gathered for the last time, Margie shared with Lily what Pennywise had revealed about her son. She wondered if, because Pennywise experienced time differently after being defeated by Richie and the others, he was now traveling back in time to target their ancestors and prevent their births. Lily responded that if that were true, and he went back far enough, it would become someone else’s problem to solve.

Margie and Lily were staying in Derry, but Will and Ronnie were leaving with their families. Before they went, Will and Ronnie shared a quick kiss. As the Hanlons packed their car, Hallorann said goodbye to Leroy and mentioned the voices he’d been hearing had stopped. He then explained he was moving to London to work at a hotel.

As they were saying goodbye, Hallorann casually asked, ‘What trouble could a hotel possibly be?’ It always gets me, because as a huge Stephen King fan, I immediately think of his connection to the Overlook Hotel – the famously creepy setting for The Shining. It’s a little foreshadowing that just adds to the chilling atmosphere, knowing what’s coming for him!

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Before leaving town, Rose informed Charlotte and Leroy that she was selling the farm now that Taniel was gone. She asked them to help her keep an eye on Pennywise, explaining that he wouldn’t awaken for another 27 years. As they were about to drive away, Charlotte hesitated, and after talking it over with Leroy and Will, the family decided to stay and live on the farm instead.

Ronnie left town with her father, Hank, and seems destined to forget everything that happened during the summer. However, Will decided to stay and wrote Ronnie a letter, hoping she wouldn’t completely forget him. The story also concludes with a glimpse of Ingrid Kersh, who is now mentally ill and residing in Juniper Hill asylum.

In October 1988, an elderly Ingrid witnesses Beverly Marsh and her father grieving the death of Beverly’s mother. Ingrid comforts Beverly, cryptically telling her that in Derry, people don’t truly disappear.

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It: Welcome to Derry is available to stream in full on Sky and NOW.

Authors

Megan Bull

2025-12-15 07:07