Welcome to Derry' Creators Tease an Ending That Will Leave Fans "Destroyed" Actorsvaultpro

After airing just two episodes, the Stephen King universe prequel It: Welcome to Derry is already getting a lot of attention. The pilot episode garnered almost 6 million views in three days, a record breaker for HBO Max, which should already place the series among its most successful productions. Such an engagement is likely to grow as episodes are released, but fans of It: Welcome to Derry should note one thing: that feeling of dread they had at the end of Episode 1 will remain throughout the series. Per the show’s creators, the “emotional ending” of Season 1 will leave everyone feeling “destroyed.”

Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the director and producer of the original It films and the prequel series, recently sat down to talk to Collider about the show. Before addressing the season finale, they explained how close the series is to the lore of the Stephen King book and its several adaptations. Naturally, Pennywise is a major part of this universe, and while he hasn’t appeared yet, Barbara says that it’s all intentional:

“It is important to keep Pennywise and to keep any form of It unpredictable. We do not want to be ahead of them. It’s very different to get to know Bob Gray before the transformation. But when it comes to Pennywise or any forms of It, we need to not know them too much.”

‘It: Welcome to Derry’s Season 1 Finale Will Be “Very Emotional”

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Barbara continued, warning audiences that they’re planning a season finale that will leave you feeling “destroyed” with the way the character arcs conclude. Andy elaborated on the finale’s mystery, saying:

“It’s a very emotional ending. The work we did in the writers’ room, and then in the execution [with the actors], all the feelings were really magnified. I think it’s a very emotional ending. There’s a feeling of closure. Of course, everybody that knows the movies knows that It is alive in 1989, but there is a trick. There’s something that happens, and it’s related to the reason we’re telling the story backwards. Nothing is what it looks like in this world, let me put it that way. I can’t be too clear about it. Nothing is what it looks like.”

Episode 2 of the Stephen King prequel premiered last Friday as part of HBO Max’s Halloween celebration. The treat (no pun intended) that was Episode 2 delivered the scares, a lot of exposition, and plenty of monsters. However, still no Pennywise. Although the evil clown was featured in the episode’s incredible opening credits, Pennywise still hasn’t returned to feed. Yet.

To the dissatisfaction of some fans, It: Welcome to Derry is taking its time connecting the events to the 2017 and 2019 films. In some ways, the show is aiming to be its own thing, with fully fleshed-out characters and storylines, terrifying monsters, and military-related machinations. Director Andy Muschietti is fully aware of this, and admits he’s trying to make a series about It, and not so much about Pennywise:

“The mystery of It will be preserved. It’s a slow burn. We are aiming to know more about It’s nature and It’s intentions and It’s reasons to be in this plane of existence, but that will happen in the longer arc across the three seasons of the show. That cryptic nature of the monster will be preserved for a longer time. We will know more about the circumstances around It’s particular transformation from being It, the shapeshifter, into the central form of Pennywise. That’s one of the big questions that I wanted to shed light on and build the story around.”