All 8 Forms Pennywise Takes In ‘IT: Welcome To Derry’

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The series IT: Welcome to Derry demonstrated just how far Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) would go to frighten people, often transforming into their worst nightmares. This ancient evil, known for its ability to change shape, preys on the fears of others. While Pennywise is most famous for appearing as a dancing clown, it uses fear to weaken and ultimately destroy its victims.

Andy Muschietti’s IT and IT: Chapter Two featured many frightening appearances of Pennywise, including disguises as a leper, a mummy, a creepy painting, and even the giant Paul Bunyan statue in Derry, Maine. This shapeshifting ability continued in IT: Welcome to Derry, where the ancient evil took it even further.

Every Form Pennywise Takes in ‘Welcome to Derry’ (So Far)

Monster Baby Demon 

In the first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, Pennywise tormented Matty Clements with one of its most disturbing illusions: a monstrous baby demon. This was part of the ancient evil’s cruelest tricks.

This creepy, swollen baby monster has a twin that’s been absorbed into its body and wings used to torture its victim—Matty. The creature attacked Matty while he was riding in a car, seemingly killing him and starting a new cycle of terror for Pennywise, as shown in the prequel series.

Dead Matty Clements 

In the beginning of the HBO Max prequel, Pennywise killed Matty Clements and then transformed into his likeness. He used this form to torment Matty’s friends, like Lilly Bainbridge, by pretending to be him and mocking their confusion over his vanishing.

While searching for Matty after he vanished, Pennywise cleverly used a scene from the movie The Music Man – specifically, the part where Harold Hill warns about the town’s moral decline – to disguise itself as Matty Clements. This allowed the ancient evil to transform into a terrifyingly large monster and attack the children at the Capitol Theater, leaving only Lilly and Ronnie unharmed.

The shocking and upsetting conclusion of the first episode foreshadows Pennywise’s increasingly brutal behavior in the story’s earlier events.

Fake Family Who Took Matty

Beyond appearing as the monstrous baby demon, Pennywise used its immense power to create a false family, deceiving Matty Clements and manipulating him into attempting to flee Derry.

What began as a seemingly normal family quickly became a terrifying ordeal. Pennywise had a horrifying plan: to torment and ultimately eat Matty, treating him like a plaything before consuming him.

The Pickle-Jar Dad Monster 

Lilly Bainbridge, played by Clara Stack, is a central child character in IT: Welcome to Derry. She carries a lot of sadness because her father died suddenly. Pennywise, the story’s monster, exploited this tragedy, using Lilly’s feelings of guilt to scare her and even turn some people in town against her.

In Episode 2, Pennywise truly frightened Lilly by appearing as a monster made of a pickle jar. This form was specifically chosen to scare her, as her late father had worked at a pickle factory.

Although the killer clown didn’t actually kill Lilly, Pennywise’s terrifying transformation into a giant pickle jar was enough to drive her back to Juniper Hill Asylum – a place where IT gains strength from the negative emotions of the people living there.

Ronnie’s Dead Mom 

I was really invested in Ronnie’s story in IT: Welcome to Derry. She’s one of the kids who made it through the first encounter with Pennywise, but she was carrying a lot of pain. It turned out she felt incredibly guilty about her mother’s death, constantly blaming herself for what happened during childbirth. It added a really heartbreaking layer to her character.

Pennywise preyed on Ronnie’s feelings of guilt, appearing as her mother to worsen the sadness she already felt. This ancient evil exploited Ronnie’s past trauma, using it to scare her by recreating the painful events surrounding her mother’s death.

Skeleton Man

The beginning of IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 3 showed a young Frank Shaw (played by James Renar) and his initial frightening experience with Pennywise. This happened during one of Pennywise’s recurring periods of activity before 1962. Pennywise appeared as a very tall, naked old man – nicknamed ‘Skeleton Man’ – and chased Shaw through the woods. Shaw was rescued by a local Derry resident named Rose.

The sight of this elderly, unclothed man strongly recalls a disturbing scene from IT: Chapter Two, specifically when Mrs. Kersh shapeshifted into a frightening old woman to frighten Beverly Marsh.

Ghosts of Lilly’s Friends 

After initially thinking they were experiencing a genuine haunting, Pennywise continued to terrorize Lilly, Ronnie, and the new members of their group, Rich and Will Hanlon (who is related to a member of the original Losers’ Club from the IT movies). He did this by appearing as the ghosts of their deceased friends – Susie, Matty, Phil, and Teddy.

Zombiefied Uncle Sam 

The latest trailer for IT: Welcome to Derry shows that Pennywise will eventually face off against the military during the show.

Pennywise, the terrifying entity, didn’t appear as his typical clown self this time. Instead, he transformed into a zombie-like version of Uncle Sam, which was a clever choice. Uncle Sam is a well-known symbol of the United States, often used in military recruitment posters, adding another layer of meaning to Pennywise’s disguise.

Pennywise, acting like a decaying and disturbingly nationalistic monster, is ridiculing the military, suggesting they are doomed to fail.

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2025-11-16 10:06