Beep beep, this article contains major spoilers for the season 1 finale of “It: Welcome to Derry.”
All’s well, it ends well, right? Our new Losers Club in “It: Welcome to Derry” has managed to defeat its enemy and condemn it to 27 more years of hibernation. History’s greatest (human) villain, General Shaw (James Remar), finally got what was coming to him, bringing an ignominious end to what must be considered one of the most reckless missions in U.S. military history – which, needless to say, is a very long list. And to top it all off, the pieces have been carefully put into place elsewhere in Derry, setting up the chessboard of what is inevitably to come in the future as the events of the two “It” films loom on the not-so-distant horizon. In conclusion, job well done and good night.
Or not. Although the 1960s story has a satisfying ending, it doesn’t necessarily seem like the end of the line for “Welcome to Derry.” In a scene that explains why Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) has such a fixation on Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), we discover that the killer clown perceives time in a non-linear way. He is confused about the circumstances of his birth and death (of which he is well aware), which has a deeply disturbing effect on Marge (Matilda Lawler) and Lily (Clara Stack). In the final moments of the episode, the two friends wonder if Pennywise has the ability to travel further in time and attempt to kill those who might pose a risk to him in the future – their parents, perhaps, or others they can’t even imagine.
With this moment, “Welcome to Derry” implicitly teases how this could continue in Season 2 and beyond.
It: Welcome to Derry may go even further into the past in season 2
You have to hand it to creators Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs: they couldn’t have planned “It: Welcome to Derry” better. We know they pitched this series as a trilogy (of sorts) meant to run over three seasons and delve further into the past each time. And while Season 2 hasn’t been officially announced yet (although Season 1 ends with an “It: Welcome to Derry – Chapter One” title card confirming it), we’re starting to see how it could happen. Throughout Season 1, the HBO series took viewers to different points in Derry’s history. Much has been made of its first adaptation of its Pennywise form, but the roots of the creature’s evil go back much further to the earth’s original indigenous population. It’s easy to imagine even more flashbacks taking place during these time periods, filling in the gaps and fleshing out details not covered or merely teased in Season 1.
But the real the potential for future seasons depends on this conversation between Lily and Marge. After all, the fact that Pennywise is aware that Marge will eventually give birth to Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard and Bill Hader in the films) raises all kinds of possibilities. This suggests that Pennywise awoke at the start of Season 1 with the express purpose of preventing his own demise by terrorizing these specific children. Since this doesn’t exactly work for our favorite cosmic horror, what’s to stop him from trying again 27 years ago? Or 27 years before, and so on? Most shows only dream of such a natural backdoor sequel setup, so I hope HBO takes full advantage of it.
“It: Welcome to Derry” is available to stream on HBO Max.
