Our first real look at Pennywise couldn’t come any sooner

Editor’s Note: The recap below contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Episode 3 of Derry.

Two episodes in, Andy MuschiettiIt is IT: Welcome to Derry gave the fans Stephen King world a story even darker than they could have imagined. In the first episode, “The Pilot,” the show had the courage to kill off three kids who we thought would be the new losers we would follow throughout the season. Episode 2, “The Thing in the Dark”, reveals why the military is so active at Derry Air Base when General Shaw (James Remar) tells Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) that The American government is searching for a mysterious underground entity that is causing fear. With the plan being to contain this force and use it as a weapon to end the Cold War, what could possibly go wrong? Now, as we approach Episode 3, “Now You See Him,” anything is possible – but don’t forget about Pennywise, because we might get our first glimpse of him too.

The Derry Monster attacks a young Shaw in episode 3 of “IT: Welcome to Derry”

We open at a carnival in the 1930s, where a boy enters the house of monsters and sees a hall of mirrors. Someone in the shadows tells him to come closer, and when he does, an old man with no eyes laughs loudly and the boy runs straight into his father’s arms. His father calls Francis (a young General Shaw) a sissy, but tells him that he has won him a prize: a new slingshot. On the way home, their car breaks down, so they buy a jug of water from a local native girl on the side of the road. Francis also gives him his new slingshot in exchange, and later they play outside with the other children. When Francis runs into the woods, the girl Rose begs him to come back and does not follow him. All alone, he is chased by the old one-eyed man, who transforms into a monster running on four legs. with a few familiar rows of large teeth, but Rose hits him in the head with a stone from her slingshot. They flee, but the creature does not follow them beyond the tree line.

In the present, Lilly (Clara Pile) is back at Juniper Hill, surrounded by the moans of laughing and crying patients, where a cleaning lady (Madeleine Stowe) tells Lilly that she thinks the girl saw the impossible and that if Ronnie (Amandine Christine) means so much to her that she will find a way to work things out between them. In the meantime, Ronnie’s father, Hank (Stephen Rider), is in prison and being questioned by Chief Bowers. (Peter Outerbridge), who wants to know where he was the night of the murders. Hank continues to insist that he was at home, but Bowers reveals that someone wrote an affidavit that she saw him outside that night.

Dick Hallorann reunites with Pennywise in episode 3 of “IT: Welcome to Derry”

At the military dig site, the car with the skeletons belongs to a “1935 Cycle” gang, but that’s not what they’re looking for. Dick Halloran (Chris Chalk) has proven psychic abilities, but he can’t do much by looking at cards. He needs to be placed at the top of the site, so Shaw sends him in a helicopter with Hanlon and Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso), the officers being asked to consider Hallorann as a compass and to fly wherever he directs them. Hallorann holds a cigar box with a familiar slingshot inside.and when he touches it, his face stiffens as if he sees something. He tells Hanlon and Russo to face east before closing their eyes.

When he opens them again, he walks towards the back of the helicopter. It’s filling up to its feet with water now. He’s no longer in the helicopter, but locked in a sewer facing a familiar circus cart with a sign for Pennywise the Dancing Clown. He descends to reveal a scene where two eyes glow in the darkness. “Who are you?” asks a deep voice. Dick looks up to see a bunch of dead floating bodies, including his own grandmother, and tries to flee, but he actually opens the helicopter’s rear hatch to jump out. Hanlon has to tackle him so he doesn’t die. Back on the ground, Dick tells General Shaw that something saw him and if they continue, something bad is going to happen.. To reward him for his efforts, and perhaps to help support him, Shaw agrees to find a better place for Dick and his friends to meet.

When she returns to school, Lilly searches for Ronnie and promises she will tell the police the truth about what she saw.. Still, no one will believe her unless she gets visual proof, so she pulls out a camera – but who can they find to develop the film? This leads them to Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James). He doesn’t know if he can help, but Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) thinks he will do it because he is in love with Ronnie, even though he denies it. It looks like they’re all in this together now – and Rich, with his knowledge of evil spirits from his Cuban parents, has a plan for evil to reveal itself.

At a local tribal meeting in Derry, Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) tells her nephew not to do anything about the dig site yet because she doesn’t want to stop the army until she knows what they are doing there. Later, in his Second Hand Rose boutique, Shaw walks in to see his old friend for the first time in fifty years. He had completely forgotten about her until he returned to Derry, but Rose says it’s normal here. She finds out he’s in charge of the digging, so he lies and says they’re digging unmarked graveyards for water pipes. Shaw asks her for help in determining which digging areas to avoid, and Rose says she will talk to the city council but can’t promise anything.

The New Losers have an altercation with a clown in episode 3 of “IT: Welcome to Derry”

Hallorann shows up for dinner at the Hanlon house, where he asks where their son Will is, but, later, when the two men are alone on the porch, Leroy points out that he never told Hallorann that he had a son. Hallorann admits that he can see things without seeing things, but Leroy doesn’t think that’s crazy. Just before Dick asked about his son, he felt something he couldn’t describe. The only other time he felt this way was when he was attacked. Hanlon tells Hallorann to stay out of his mind, and Hallorann agrees. because the man saved his life – he wouldn’t mind having him by his side in the trenches.

Meanwhile, Will, Lilly, Rich and Ronnie hang out in a cemetery, sitting around a circle of candles. Rich says a prayer for the dead in Spanish, but nothing happens after a short pause. Lilly and Ronnie are ready to quit because they don’t believe it will work, while Ronnie is also upset that Will doesn’t believe what she saw. She gets on her bike and Lilly leaves with her. Will and Rich are left behind, but drop out of the circle to try to catch up. As they pedal towards the cemetery gates, the barrier moves impossibly further away.. They ride through the grass, the ground of which is crumbling, when their three dead friends, now with rotten faces, float above them, pursuing them all night.

Lilly manages to take a few photos, but everyone gets separated, with Will finding himself all alone at the mausoleum. Inside, a hand appears and Will takes a photo of it while screaming. Lilly, Rich, and Ronnie reached the edge of the cemetery, anxiously awaiting any sign of Will until he suddenly appeared, much to their relief. It’s safe to say Will believes Ronnie now, and this new group of losers kiss as one before breaking into the school darkroom to develop their photos. One by one, each of the ghosts’ faces are revealed, but then the final image of Will develops. Something stands in the distance, blurry, with glowing eyes. “He’s a clown,” he said.

Release date

October 26, 2025

Network

HBO

Franchise(s)

HE

Advantages and disadvantages

• A developing friendship between Leroy Hanlon and Dick Hallorann opens up new possibilities.
• The new group of Losers is even better than the original.
• There’s just enough tease of Pennywise’s arrival without spoiling it.

• The visual effects of the ghosts don’t look realistic.
• The episode doesn’t spend enough time in Juniper Hill.