From Fake Wombs And Umbilical Cords To Pickles And Intestines, Welcome To Derry’s Young Stars Experienced Some Super Gross Stuff On The Set For Episode 2

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Be warned: This article reveals major plot details from Episode 2 of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled “The Thing In The Dark.” If you haven’t watched the episode yet (it’s available on HBO Max), you might want to stop reading now to avoid spoilers!

Given how central fear is to Stephen King’s IT, any adaptation needs to be genuinely frightening – and the HBO series IT: Welcome To Derry is delivering on that promise. Both the premiere episode and the recent release, “The Thing In The Dark,” are truly scary. While the show is still new, it’s likely viewers won’t soon forget Amanda Christine’s portrayal of Ronnie Grogan or the terrifying experience Clara Stack’s Lilly Bainbridge has in the grocery store.

The second episode of IT: Welcome to Derry has two really compelling scenes, with fantastic special effects and strong acting. I recently had the opportunity to discuss these scenes with the young actors involved, interviewing them online earlier this month.

Amanda Christine Recalls The Terror Of ‘The Mother Thing’

We meet Ronnie Grogan early in the series – she’s one of the last people to see Matty Clements alive at the beginning of the first episode. However, the second episode is where we really get to know her. We learn she lives with her single father, Hank Grogan, and her grandmother in an apartment. It’s also revealed that her mother died giving birth to her, and this information is delivered in a particularly shocking scene.

In the story, a character trying to ignore an argument takes a terrifying turn when covering her head with a sheet in bed. This act traps her inside a symbolic, giant womb. The already frightening situation escalates as she struggles to escape and then faces a disturbing confrontation with her deceased mother, who blames her for her own death and attacks her with imagery of a dangerous, toothed vagina. Amanda Christine described filming this chaotic and intense scene in vivid detail when asked about her experience.

Let me tell you, filming this movie was wild! It was such a unique experience, especially getting covered in…well, let’s just say a lot of goo! They actually built a fake umbilical cord and strapped it to me, which was as strange as it sounds. But the coolest part? They constructed a whole water tank so I could train for the scenes where I was supposed to be in the womb. I spent hours submerged, learning to move and act underwater – it was genuinely a blast! And then, of course, there was the ‘birth’ scene…

I recently spoke with Chris Chalk, who stars in IT: Welcome To Derry. He was careful not to reveal too much about the show, but mentioned several scenes with the young actors that particularly impressed him. I suspect the return of the character Ronnie Grogran is one of those moments – it’s hard to imagine anyone wouldn’t be amazed by it.

Okay, let me tell you about Amanda Christine’s performance – she absolutely sells the terror, and it’s convincing! She admitted it was a really messy and draining shoot, but surprisingly, she enjoyed it. She feels the scene really adds layers to her character, Ronnie, and helps us understand her better. And she went on to say…

It was an incredibly intense but enjoyable experience. Specifically, portraying the fear of Pennywise as my mother – we jokingly call it ‘The Mother Thing’ – really resonated with me. It stemmed from a deep-seated fear of losing my mother during childbirth, and it was a truly unique and personal performance.

Ronnie is haunted by the possibility that she caused her mother’s death, and this deep emotional wound makes her vulnerable to the entity known as IT. However, ‘The Mother Thing’ isn’t the only way IT targets people’s difficult relationships with their parents, as seen throughout ‘The Thing In The Dark’.

Clara Stack Isn’t Really A Fan Of Pickles, But She Had A Blast Shooting The Grocery Store Sequence

As a horror fan, I always appreciate a good dark bedroom scare – it’s such a relatable setup. We’ve all been kids, alone in the dark, jumping at every little noise. But what really surprised me about the second episode of IT: Welcome To Derry was how effectively they used a brightly lit grocery store as a setting for some genuinely creepy moments. It was unexpected, and it totally worked!

Lilly Bainbridge is deeply traumatized by her father’s horrific death – he was fatally injured by machinery at the pickle factory. This trauma manifests in unsettling ways when she goes grocery shopping. The store transforms into a disorienting labyrinth, and she feels subtly mocked by other shoppers. The store’s announcements add to her distress, and ultimately, she experiences a terrifying hallucination of her father, reassembled from the pickles in jars – a monstrous figure made of his head and intestines.

I totally agree with what Amanda Christine said – Clara Stack really nailed it when she talked about how the movie gets under your skin. It’s not just about scares, it’s about exposing the character’s deepest fears. And I loved how the tension just kept building and building before everything really hit the fan.

It was a really intense experience. As Amanda pointed out, the grocery store scene mirrors Lily’s internal struggle with losing her father. Filming it was particularly striking – the grocery store felt eerie, almost like a maze, with the shelves seeming to close in around us. I thought that visual effect was really effective.

Clara Stack confessed she didn’t like pickles even before filming, and still doesn’t! But she still enjoyed shooting the scenes with all the unpleasant special effects.

The pickle-themed part of the experience was wild! I actually don’t even like pickles normally, but it was incredibly fun. Smashing the pickle jar, being surrounded by pickles, and even having fake intestines around my mouth and neck – plus interacting with that weird rubber pickle head – it was all amazing. Like Amanda said, it was a truly unique, unforgettable experience.

The magic of the entertainment industry!

While “The Thing In The Dark” delivered plenty of scares, there’s much more to come in the first season of IT: Welcome To Derry. The next episode will arrive on HBO on November 9th, slightly delayed due to an early Halloween premiere. After you’ve watched it, be sure to check back on TopMob for exclusive stories and insights from my interviews with the show’s creators and cast.

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2025-10-31 22:12