From its gory first episode—which started and ended with kids falling victim to the fearsome entity known as Pennywise the Clown—It: Welcome to Derry let viewers know to expect no-holds-barred horror. And it certainly delivered; we’ll never look at a jar of pickles the same way again.
Based on Stephen King’s It, the show was co-created by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs and serves as a prequel to their big-screen duology It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). But while Welcome to Derry accomplished its stated mission to expand the world of King’s spooky novel—giving us new characters, new motivations, and a new perspective on Derry’s history as well as its resident monster—it also left room for more.
It seems likely HBO will greenlight a “Chapter Two,” but while we wait for the news—and then begin the long wait for more episodes—here’s what we’re left pondering about Welcome to Derry season one.
Is there more to Pennywise’s origin story?
We knew even prior to Welcome to Derry that Pennywise, or rather the entity that takes the form of Pennywise, is alien in origin.
“Millions of years ago, before the time of the first people, an evil spirit was cast down from the darkest part of the night sky” is how the Indigenous oral history that’s been passed down across generations begins, and we get a visual of the shooting star—a sort of cosmic prison—plunging from the heavens, cracking open, and releasing Earth’s most sinister new resident.
That part is crystal clear. But will Welcome to Derry dig even deeper into the story? Who decided to cast out that evil spirit all those millions of years ago? Will anyone ever show up to check on him? What’s his homeworld (or home dimension, perhaps) like in that dark, dark part of the sky? Will Maturin, the “turtle god” that plays a role in King’s novel as well as The Dark Tower, ever turn up beyond the few sly turtle references we saw in season one?
Why would Charlotte want to stay in Derry?
The car was packed. The Hanlons were about to drive out of town. But at the last minute, Charlotte told Leroy she wanted to stay in Derry.
Yes, the town where a group of racist men (all unpunished aside from Stan Kersh, chomp!) shot up and burned down a bar for Black servicemen, killing dozens. The town that put convenient scapegoat Hank Grogan on the fast track to Shawshank State Prison, legal rights be damned.
The town where, every 27 years, a demonic clown emerges from the sewer to feast on children—a creature that very nearly killed Will, Charlotte and Leroy’s beloved young son. The town where Pennywise’s lurking presence has a way of circulating bad vibes even when he’s having his naptime.
But, sure. Charlotte—the outspoken, intelligent, strong-willed social justice crusader and protective mother—wants to put roots down there.
It had to happen for story reasons, since we know Will eventually becomes the father of Losers Club member Mike Hanlon. But the decision still felt at odds with the way Charlotte had been portrayed over the previous eight episodes. Even Taylour Paige, who played Charlotte, questioned the way her character’s arc ended.
What could future seasons explore?
Ahead of season one’s airing, Andy Muschietti said he had a three-season plan for Welcome to Derry: a second season set in 1935, and a third set in 1908. Both of those time periods were explored in season one’s 1962 setting thanks to flashbacks. If the show returns, what more story is there to tell? Deeper dives into the lives of the 1930s gangsters whose car was excavated in season one? Or the 1906 Kitchener Ironworks disaster? (Both are overtly referenced in Welcome to Derry’s opening credits, so that seems likely.)
But on top of that, along with a new cast of contemporaneous characters, including an inevitable group of misfit kids, could there also be flash-forwards, flashbacks, and connections to other It characters, as we saw in season one? And if so, what might those segments dig into?
If Pennywise’s death is also his birth, does that mean he doesn’t die in 2016 but will be reborn?
From what we’ve seen, the Muschietti approach is very past-oriented, as well as very much patterned after King’s trademark approach to nostalgia as a thing that’s both wholesome and brimming with dread. Even so, given Pennywise’s knowledge of his death in 2016, could there be a Welcome to Derry season set in the future—or even just scenes set in the future? What might Derry circa 2043 look like? 2070?
Could Pennywise really take a page from The Terminator?
Speaking of Pennywise’s unique perception of time, who could forget Margie’s worry that he’ll decide to travel back in time and kill her parents or the parents of her friends? Welcome to Derry’s writers have clearly thought about the possibilities inherent in that idea, otherwise it wouldn’t have been repeatedly touched on in the season one finale.
What happened to the Derry Air Force Base and the other soldiers involved in Operation Precept?
Did they all get honorably discharged (even the ones who were on the wrong side of certain clown-based decisions) and told to keep their mouths shut like Leroy was? Did the base close down, despite what we were assured about its strategic location in the very northern United States, at the height of the Cold War? Was there any fallout from Operation Precept or the Black Spot fire, or did all of that get explained away and brushed under the rug?
Do people outside Derry realize what happened?
Derry is an isolated place with supernatural qualities infecting its borders; we know, for instance, people who leave will forget most details about their time there. But from what we’ve seen, there’s nothing preventing people from coming into the town and poking around. The U.S. Air Force certainly did so in season one.
Rose tells Leroy and Charlotte that even though the military has backed off, the entity in Derry will attract others in the future. Who else might show up? Members of the media too curious and smart to fall for the cover stories? FBI agents doing an X-Files-style investigation? Circus historians? Cultists? Family members of previous victims with an axe to grind?
Do other Welcome to Derry characters have direct ties to the It and It Chapter Two characters?
We know Will is Mike Hanlon’s dad, and Margie is Richie Tozier’s mother. We also know Teddy Uris, who died in the first episode, has a brother who ends up being the father of Stan Uris. Former Derry police chief Clint Bowers is clearly related to noted bully Henry Bowers—probably his grandfather, though that’s not explicitly confirmed. And, of course, our pal Ingrid Kersh, Bob Gray’s daughter, has a couple of close encounters with both the teenage and adult Beverly Marsh.
What other connections could there be? What new ties might be introduced in future seasons? Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom, and Eddie Kaspbrak all feel like rather obvious threads to pull if the show returns.
What else are you still wondering about It: Welcome to Derry’s first season—and beyond? You can watch all nine episodes on HBO and HBO Max.
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