Do you hate clowns? Is their crazy hair, the red nose, and silly costume appealing to you? To some, clowns don’t invoke any sort of alarming feelings, but in the TV show IT: Welcome to Derry, there is no doubt that clown is a villain! Let’s discuss the different anxiety, disgust, and fear inducing emotions that both the show and movies portray.
The story of IT follows Pennywise, a clown and terrifying bully, who manipulates the fears of children in Derry, Maine. Pennywise, actually known as It, takes these tailored fears and makes each child see and experience things on their own but in some cases creates shared experiences. The entity’s true form is never shown, but this monster makes up for it with all the creepy forms it chooses to take. Along with It’s form, there are many set names this entity goes by, depending on who you ask.
Chapter 1
The insanely talented Andy Muschietti does a great job of introducing viewers to Pennywise in his 2017 movie release of It: Chapter One. The movie opens with a dark, rainy day– an easy day for a kid to go missing– and sets a boy’s little brother up for a tragic death by Pennywise. Georgie, the little boy, meets Pennywise in a sewer after letting his paper boat get washed down the drain, and from here on we meet the rest of Pennywise’s victims. Bill, Mike, Eddie, Richie, Beverly, and Ben– The Losers Club– spend the whole movie not only trying to help Bill find his brother but also suffering through the forms IT takes to build the fear in them. Though the forms IT takes seem to be tamer at the onset of the franchise, we still see things like a woman from a Modigliani painting, Georgie, a leper, burn victims, Pennywise, and a beheaded figure from Derry’s history. Maybe the kids were easier to scare, or maybe the director just hadn’t grasped how scary he wanted this horror character to be yet. However, the ending lets us know that it’s certainly not the end of the IT story.
Chapter 2
It: Chapter Two came out just 2 years after the first very successful movie. In this movie is when we find out the true way to defeat IT and get some more insight on why and how the town is cursed. Chapter 2 opens to Derry 27 years after The Losers Club “defeated” IT. While all the other losers moved away after the incident, Mike stayed back to ensure the promise: to come back if this thing wasn’t really dead. One by one, Mike gives a call to his old friends after seeing signs IT was back. What Mike regrets informing them right away is that Derry has an effect on people. Once you leave, your memories are foggy; you forget the people you knew and the pivotal moments you have had in the town. Though the longer everyone stays, the more they remember and the stronger their fears come back to haunt them. Just like Chapter 1, IT takes the forms of their fears to taunt them, and eventually The Losers Club finds themselves fighting IT again. However, this time is different. It seems like in this movie his tactics are more of a taunt and tease. IT is a different character in this movie than in the first. IT’s whole act is nagging and haunting people with their own fears, but in this movie we see more of Pennywise the clown rather than the forms it knows it can take. It’s more frightening to see just Pennywise because it’s almost like he’s angrier, done with shapeshifting and just wanting to get the job done.
Welcome to the Show
When talking about IT: Welcome to Derry, there’s a lot more to unpack than both movies combined. One thing I do really like about this opening of this show is that we don’t see Pennywise too early. This show takes place before both movies, so chronologically it makes sense to hold off on showing what form this entity prefers and the one that we know best. In short, we follow a similar group of children that are haunted by IT and trying to save a kid they knew but who is ultimately already dead. Like the movies, the end goal is to stop this thing from doing any more harm, and the kids aren’t the only ones trying to defeat it. Lilly, Ronnie, Rich, Marge, and Will all get tormented just as badly as the movies, however, they get taunted more frequently and in more life threatening ways. While not noted earlier, the deaths in both the movies are sad and horrific, but in the show the deaths are gruesome, graphic, traumatizing, and most definitely saddening. Now, the history of IT is given to us simply between both movies, but the show digs deeper into where this thing came from. The entity was something the Native Americans had kept at bay years ago, according to the movies. In the show they stay true to that initial fact but dive into where the thing actually came from, and why the Natives had to keep it “caged”. IT’s truth is that it came from another world; it crashed down onto Earth and could only torment Derry because the Natives found out there were shards from the thing’s crash site which kept it where it stands. When settlers came to America, the Natives tried to warn people about this entity and the distinct line that should not be crossed. The shards created a radius around the entity’s crash site and kept it within the forest, but overtime Derry was built over this ground and so IT affected the town, the water, and the people.
Overall, the show and the movies, while having the same plot and character types, have very clear differences. Pennywise was stronger and more terrifying in the past than in the present, which is when the movies take place. However, there is still more to learn about IT, and us viewers will get plenty more in Welcome to Derry’s seasons to come.
References
Fuchs, J., Muschietti, A., & Muschietti, B. (Creators). (2025). IT: Welcome to Derry [TV series]. Double Dream, FiveTen Productions, HBO Max, Québec Production Services Tax Credit, Rideback, Vertigo Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television.
Muschietti, A. (Director). (2017). It [Film]. New Line Cinema, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures, KatzSmith Productions.
Muschietti, A. (Director). (2019). It: Chapter Two [Film]. New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment, Rideback, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures.
