Watch out for the red balloon: This article contains spoilers for “It: Welcome to Derry” season 1, episode 1, “The Pilot.”
“It: Welcome to Derry” is a Pennywise (Bill Skarsgǻrd) origin story that’s technically based on Stephen King’s “It.” In practice, though, it’s only beholden to the rough historical timeline of the titular monster, as established in Andy Muschietti’s “It” films and King’s novel. This leaves a lot for the show to play with and interpret as it pleases … and “The Pilot” proves that the show intends to do just that. How? By almost casually killing nearly every member of the show’s version of the Losers Club.
After the episode has spent its early moments subjecting poor, doomed Matty (Miles Ekhardt) to the worst hitchhiking experience imaginable, it spends considerable time setting up what seems to be the show’s version of the monster-fighting kid team from “It Chapter One.” In fact, Lilly (Clara Stack), Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Phil (Jack Molloy Legault), and tagalong little sister Suze (Hunter Storm Baker) get so much attention and characterization that it’s easy to forget It won’t be defeated until the events of “It Chapter Two” … and therefore is going to win this round no matter what.
The episode sets up the new kid team for so long that when the demon baby form It used to kill Matty returns in the grand finale at the movie theater, it’s genuinely shocking. Even more shocking is the fact that It goes on to graphically slaughter Teddy, Phil, and Suze, leaving only Lilly and young projectionist Ronnie (Amanda Christine) for later. In one fell swoop, “It: Welcome to Derry” establishes itself as the one King adaptation that has the opportunity to be truly unpredictable — and it’s great.
Unfortunately, the unpredictability of Welcome to Derry isn’t built to last
“It: Welcome to Derry” season 1 takes place in the year 1962. Because of this, a perceptive viewer who’s paid attention to the historical bits of the Muschietti “It” movies has a rough idea of some events that are taking place, as well as It/Pennywise’s influence in the middle of it all. However, the true magic of the show is that it features so many characters who are conspicuously absent from the events that, for once, a King aficionado can sit back and expect to be genuinely surprised with who lives and who dies.
In fact, as it stands, only two characters can be expected to be more or less safe. Blake Cameron James’ Will Hanlon is obviously major “It” character Mike Hanlon’s (Isaiah Mustafa and Chosen Jacobs) father, so unless the show intends to mess with the canon in very unexpected ways, he will likely survive into adulthood. It also seems fair to suspect that the show’s major link to a different Stephen King movie – Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) of “The Shining” fame — will live to make his way to the Overlook Hotel. Apart from them, though? Everyone’s fates are gloriously up in the air.
Incidentally, this should be enjoyed while it lasts. We learned many things about “It: Welcome to Derry” at the 2025 New York Comic Con, and one of them is that each of the show’s planned three seasons will take the story 27 years further into the past. This may lead to season 1 featuring some adult characters who are still kids in season 2, which would make more and more characters narratively safe as the story proceeds.
“It: Welcome to Derry” season 1 is streaming on HBO Max.
