Is That Really Pennywise? IT: Welcome To Derry Creators Explain Episode 3’s Ending Reveal

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WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for IT: Welcome to Derry episode 3!

The third episode of IT: Welcome to Derry featured a frightening clown appearing in the cemetery, leading viewers to wonder if it was the clown known as Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård. While the show has already shown other forms of ‘IT’ – like a man inside a pickle jar and the demon baby from the first episode – this moment would have been Pennywise’s first official appearance.

In IT: Welcome to Derry, Will, Lilly, Ronnie, and Rich try to get photographic evidence of IT’s powers by luring it to the cemetery. They barely manage to escape with the camera, and in the final scene, they develop the film. Most of the photos show what appear to be ghostly images of their friends pursuing them, but one photo taken by Will chillingly reveals a mysterious clown. It’s unclear, though, if that clown is actually Pennywise.

In an interview with Deadline, the creators of IT: Welcome to Derry, Kane and Fuchs, remained deliberately ambiguous about the clown appearing at the end of episode 3 and whether it was actually Pennywise. Though Kane first claimed he didn’t know, Fuchs suggested it was. Kane eventually confirmed the clown is Pennywise, but then hinted at potential twists, saying viewers will have to wait and see how things unfold in the rest of the season.

Did you see Pennywise at the end of episode 103? We’re pretty sure it was him. From the very first episode, we wanted to create a sense of unpredictability – to show viewers that anyone could be in danger and that things aren’t always what they appear. We strongly believe it is Pennywise, and we want viewers to go into the rest of the season expecting that. We’ll see how it all plays out in the remaining episodes.

Since the show Welcome to Derry is exploring where Pennywise comes from and why it often appears as a clown, the mystery surrounding the clown seen in episode 3 suggests it might not be the Pennywise we know. The figure the teenagers find in the cemetery could be a previous version of Pennywise, or even a different spirit altogether, separate from the entity that usually takes that form.

According to Kane and Fuchs, viewers won’t find out if the clown in Will’s photo is really Pennywise until the second half of IT: Welcome to Derry. It’s been confirmed that Pennywise won’t appear until later in the season, and it’s expected to be around episode 5 when he makes a proper introduction.

Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the executive producers, have said that they intentionally held back showing Pennywise fully at first. This was to prevent the audience from becoming too used to him and to maintain his unpredictable nature. Barbara Muschietti compared the approach to the way the shark was used in Jaws, explaining that revealing Pennywise at just the right moments is crucial to keeping him scary. She believes this careful pacing is exactly why he remains so terrifying.

Stephen King has praised Pennywise’s introduction in Welcome to Derry as terrifying, suggesting this return to the franchise will be much more significant than the brief glimpse of the clown in episode 3. Once the mystery of what was hidden in the crypt is revealed, we’ll likely understand Pennywise and the overall story of IT: Welcome to Derry much better.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry release Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO/HBO Max.

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2025-11-10 20:28