IT: Welcome to Derry Finale Creates Major Pennywise Plot Hole

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The first season finale of IT: Welcome to Derry delivered on many fronts, featuring surprise appearances (like Beverly!) and confirming popular fan theories – Marge being Richie’s mom was a big one. It also gave us a truly memorable TV moment – I’m still thrilled by Ghost Richie flipping off Pennywise while rushing to help his friends! While the season was full of surprises and intense moments, the finale significantly expanded the mythology of IT in a way that was a little unexpected, even for a Stephen King story.

In the “Winter Fire” episode, directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Jason Fuchs, audiences discover something new about Pennywise. Unlike in Stephen King’s original novel, the Tim Curry miniseries, or Muschietti’s IT films, this episode reveals that Pennywise doesn’t experience time like we do – it doesn’t move forward in a straight line. While talking to Marge, Pennywise shows it knows what will happen in the future, almost as if it’s already lived through it. It then tries to kill Marge to stop her son, Richie (who will later help defeat it), but Hallorann stops it by invading its mind and trapping it in a fake memory.

Marge Took on an Unexpected Role in Welcome to Derry

It’s a surprising move that the story ultimately focuses on Marge, a character who started out as fairly unimportant and unremarkable. Initially, the story seemed to center on Lilly Bainbridge, who was positioned as the main character and survivor of the shocking opening scene massacre – an event that initially seemed to take place in 1962.

As the season went on, it became increasingly clear that Marge and Richie had a connection beyond just liking fashionable glasses. Marge, in particular, started to stand out as the key person to follow.

It makes sense that Pennywise would try to kill Marge, and even Will, because by eliminating the parents of those destined to defeat it, it could potentially avoid being destroyed. Marge herself wonders if It might go even further back in time to kill their parents, effectively ending the lineage a generation earlier.

It’s definitely possible Pennywise could keep traveling further back in time – though the filmmakers have suggested that might not be what happens. This also raises a question: if Pennywise was trying to ensure its survival, why didn’t it just kill all the other children at the school?

The Parents of the 1988 Losers’ Club May Have Been in the School

Unlike Marge, the audience immediately knew that Mike would be the one to ultimately defeat Pennywise as an adult in 2017. This creates a confusing plot point: Why didn’t Pennywise simply kill Will at his house instead of kidnapping him? If he had, it would have eliminated one of the seven kids who later confront him (because if Will was dead, Mike wouldn’t exist to lead the charge).

The clown also tends to capture his victims instead of simply killing them. While these scenes are often great and frightening – who doesn’t enjoy Bill Skarsgård’s creepy performances? – it’s actually a pretty illogical tactic. After all, some of those captured kids could have grown up to be the parents of the future Losers’ Club members.

We first learn about Alvin through a message scrawled on a bathroom stall – a heart surrounds his name, hinting he attended the school. He eventually becomes Beverly Marsh’s abusive father. It makes you wonder if he was one of the children Pennywise killed. Why didn’t Pennywise simply eliminate Alvin (and Will) to reduce the size of the Losers’ Club?

It’s possible Pennywise was trying to capture all the children as a way to attract Lilly, Ronnie, and especially Marge. This raises a key question: What makes Marge (and, by connection, Richie) so significant that Pennywise would focus on them specifically?

Pennywise easily could have killed a few more people before the final showdown, and the story shows that he did. As Lilly, Ronnie, and Margie walk through town, they pass numerous bodies of adults Pennywise apparently killed while escaping.

As much as I’d love to see more of the IT story – specifically, a continuation of Welcome to Derry – it looks like we’re stuck waiting to see if they ever actually pick it up. Honestly, I’m worried they might just drop the idea and leave us hanging with all those unanswered questions.

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2025-12-30 05:39