As a longtime Stephen King fan, I’ve been following Welcome to Derry closely, and I have to say, this first season has really dug deep into the origins of IT. The show has gone to impressive lengths to explain how this ancient, otherworldly being came to Earth and how it was initially contained. Throughout all this world-building, a big question has always hung over the story: why a clown? The latest episode finally tackles the mystery of Pennywise’s origins, attempting to explain when and why IT chose that particular form. Unfortunately, the answer feels a little disappointing and doesn’t quite live up to the anticipation. It adds to the mythology, sure, but it’s not the impactful revelation I was hoping for.
Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 7
The seventh episode of Welcome to Derry spends a lot of time showing what life was like in 1908, focusing on the difficult childhood of Ingrid Kersh (Madeleine Stowe). We learn about her life with the traveling circus where her father, Bob Gray (Bill Skarsgård), performed as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. This earlier version of Pennywise was popular with the children of Derry, and his shows were a big hit. The episode shows that Bob was struggling with alcohol and sadness after his wife’s death, and he hoped he and Ingrid could find success with a new performance together.
As a huge cinema fan, I was really disappointed by how they handled the villain’s motivations. It turns out this entity, this monster, just picked the Pennywise clown form because it worked – it was good at attracting kids. They basically said it was a practical choice! For me, that completely ruined the character. It took away all the mystery and, honestly, didn’t make sense when you think about everything the creature had done before. It felt like a really simplistic explanation for something that should have been far more complex and terrifying.
IT’s Version of Pennywise Has Always Been Scary, Contradicting Its Origins
The biggest issue with how Welcome to Derry reveals Pennywise’s origins is that the creature’s version of the clown is simply too frightening. This clashes with the idea that Pennywise chose that form to attract children. While Bob Gray was a well-loved performer, the creature’s imitation is a disturbing and twisted version of him. As we’ve seen in the IT films, Pennywise usually appears with a menacing grin, crooked eyes, and dripping drool – an image meant to scare, not to build trust. If the creature wanted the clown disguise to work as a trap, it would perfectly copy Bob Gray’s friendly personality. Instead, it consistently uses a terrifying appearance that causes people to flee, which undermines the prequel’s attempt to explain how the creature hunts.
The franchise consistently shows the creature can convincingly appear harmless when it wants to trick children. For example, in IT: Welcome to Derry, it pretends to be a weak version of Matty to draw kids into the sewers. The films also feature the creature appearing as Georgie, using his brother Bill’s grief to manipulate him. It uses these innocent forms for subtle deception, saving its terrifying Pennywise appearance for when it wants to openly scare people. Because of this, the show’s claim that the clown is just a simple lure feels unconvincing.
The idea that the clown appearance is just a way to find children doesn’t hold up when you consider how often the creature uses it even when no kids are around. It often appears as Pennywise to bother adults or when it’s alone in its hiding place – situations where luring children wouldn’t make sense. If the clown form was only about attracting food, the creature wouldn’t use it so much outside of hunting. By explaining the villain’s origins as a simple misreading of human behavior, Welcome to Derry solves a mystery that has lasted for decades, but doesn’t offer a very satisfying explanation in its place.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.
What are your thoughts on why IT took the shape of Pennywise? Share your opinions in the comments and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!
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2025-12-08 06:11