It: Welcome to Derry premieres in just a few days, and horror fans are already salivating at the idea of revisiting the most famous town in Stephen King‘s universe. The most loyal followers are also eager to see Bill Skarsgård return as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, as he once again emerges in Derry to feast on the souls of the innocent. However, the show’s creators have revealed that we might be waiting a little while before seeing Pennywise’s highly anticipated comeback. In It: Welcome to Derry, the infamous clown takes his time, but there’s a good reason for this.
Andy and Barbara Muschietti, director and producer of the original movies and the upcoming series, recently spoke to ScreenRant about the eagerly awaited prequel. The Muschietti siblings have talked before about Pennywise’s presence in the show, and whether the clown would be a central part of the plot. Now, Barbara has shared the reason why they had to keep Pennywise in the background of the story, but fear not, as it’s all in the name of maintaining the horror:
“It’s been very important, from the first movie, to treat him as a very unpredictable character. In order to do that, you cannot have the audience get comfortable with him.
I’ve said this before, but he is our shark. You’ve got to bring him out with all his complexity in the right moments, otherwise It loses its power. I am absolutely convinced that he is still as terrifying as he is because of that dosification.”
Andy also joined the conversation, and added a pinch of mystery to his sister’s comments: “This is a slow burn. You’ll understand that the buildup and anticipation is intentional as we delay the appearance of the clown. He’s there, but he’s not. Or he’s not there, but he is.”
‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Is Much More Than a Pennywise Prequel
There’s no question that Pennywise is a huge part of Stephen King’s original book. And when that book made its transition to the small and big screens, Pennywise was also a huge part of those adaptations. Nevertheless, the lore in the original story transcends It’s most famous representation. Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane expanded on this during the same interview:
“The benefit of long-form storytelling is that we can spend a little bit more time on the other forms that Pennywise can take to scare the characters, and you can delve more deeply into the characters. You can learn more about what makes them tick and what they actually do fear, based on the things that they’ve gone through.”
Kane also teased that building up the anticipation and basically keeping Pennywise off camera was intentional. Per his statement, it’s safe to say that it will all work out for the best, as Pennywise’s rampage is “more brutal” than what we saw in the 2017 and 2019 movies:
“You want to portion out Bill. We know the character of Pennywise is there early on. You hear his voice, you hear the laugh, you see the balloon. Sometimes you see the eyes open up in a place that you wouldn’t expect them to open up, so we know he’s coming.
“You really just want to ratchet up that anticipation because when we do find him again, and we do use him, it’ll be spectacular. And it’ll be a lot more brutal than anything you’ve ever seen in the movie.”
- Release Date
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October 26, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andy Muschietti