For five episodes, IT: Welcome to Derry has teased fans with glimpses of balloons, shadowy clowns, and a lot of stretched out monstrosities representing different forms of It, the central creature terrorizing the titular town of Derry, Maine. Well, as of Episode 5, titled “Neibolt Street,” — and spoilers past this point — Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skårsgard) has finally arrived. And I’ll tell you what: though it took five hours to get there, the way the HBO series executes on Pennywise’s introduction is absolutely perfect.
There’s actually a lot going on in the hour, but to recap briefly, the Losers Club ’62 is finally together, and ready to take the fight to the sewers. The reason? The shocking return of Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt), who somehow survived the attack in the first scene of the series — and reveals that Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) is alive in the clown’s lair, as well. So the kids head under Derry to try and rescue him… Only to find out that this is very much a trick.
In fact, Matty did not survive (Phil is looking pretty half-eaten too), and the “kid” the other kids have been wandering through the sewers with is the very creature they’ve come down to hunt. This time, though, there’s no playing around as Matty spins around a sewer pole while seeing an off-key song, transforming into… Pennywise.
And oh, they give the star of the show his moment and make the most of it. Look, I’ve been very critical of this series for a variety of reasons. But credit where it’s due: they know that Pennywise’s entrance is the thing we’re waiting for, and he gets the spiraling musical score, the special lighting, and a perfect entrance line: “Duck and cover, kiddos.”
In fact, having Pennywise say this brings into focus a lot of what the show is going for, but either not been as explicit about, or gone in too many varying directions to make clear… Pennywise is a nuclear bomb in the show, blowing everything up and taking it to the next level. What this line brings home is the series is looking to parallel nuclear paranoia with the fear of a child-eating clown in the sewers. (If you don’t know, “duck and cover” is the drills kids and adults would run in case of a nuclear attack, like hiding under your school desk would somehow protect you from an atomic explosion).
That’s very smart, and frankly if you distilled this idea down to the length of a movie, versus a TV show with various side-trips and subplots, you might have had a worthy prequel to IT. It would also more explicitly explain the most controversial plotline in Welcome to Derry, with the army looking to weaponize Pennywise. He’s the US’s version of a nuke, to put them on even footing with Russia. That’s been clear since the beginning, but with one sentence, the show nails the theme it’s been weaving around thus far.
Unfortunately, that one scene is the height of the episode. Pennywise does his classic running at the kids to spook them — likely because, as we’re told earlier in the episode the Augury, aka the blood-soaked end of It’s cycle, is coming and Pennywise wants his meat super sweet. We also get to see Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) use the relic crafted from Pennywise’s comet prison drive him back, and that’s the last he’s seen in the hour. There’s nothing quite as scary, or goosebump inducing as that initial intro, and it’s unfortunate.
Also an open question? How much more will Pennywise appear in the series? We have three more episodes, and there’s at least one event coming from the Stephen King novel that the Dancing Clown is very much present at (look up what happened to The Black Spot if you want spoilers). But more likely we’re back to stretched out priests and evil moose, a la previous episodes. At least for that one moment, though, Pennywise — and It: Welcome to Derry — gave the people what they want.
IT: Welcome To Derry Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of IT: Welcome To Derry premiere on Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9pm ET.
Here’s the full list of episodes in IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 with premiere dates:
- Sunday, October 26, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 1
- Sunday, November 2, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 2
- Sunday, November 9, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 3
- Sunday, November 16, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 4
- Sunday, November 23, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 5
- Sunday, November 30, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 6
- Sunday, December 7, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 7
- Sunday, December 14, 2025: IT: Welcome To Derry, Season 1, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch IT: Welcome To Derry
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