‘Welcome to Derry’ Says Goodbye to 4 Major Characters

by

The fifth episode of HBO Max’s IT: Welcome to Derry revealed that four significant characters have died. This horror series acts as a prequel to the It films, taking place in 1962 while Pennywise is actively terrorizing the town. The first episode featured a surprising and brutal turn when several characters who seemed central to the story were killed by Pennywise. However, because of the entity’s ability to create illusions, it wasn’t immediately clear if these deaths were real.

Okay, so after that absolutely brutal scene in Episode 4 where we thought Lilly, Teddy, Phil, and Susie were torn apart by Pennywise’s little demon spawn, I, like many viewers, figured that was it for them. But Episode 5 threw a real curveball! We saw Matty Clements – the very first victim we met – alive and escaped from the sewers. It totally flipped the script and suddenly, there’s a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, those kids from the previous episode didn’t meet such a grim end after all. It’s a clever move that keeps you guessing and genuinely invested in who will actually survive this Derry nightmare.

It: Welcome to Derry Confirms 4 Characters Are Truly Gone

As we’ve seen throughout the story, Pennywise’s hideout in the sewers is where it hunts and eats its victims, leaving behind a terrifying scene of bodies and bones. In Episode 5, Matty explains to Lilly and her friends that Pennywise didn’t kill everyone, implying it kept some children alive to feed on their fear.

Matty confirmed that Teddy was already dead when the creature pulled him inside. He described a horrific scene: Teddy’s head was crushed, and the creature actually ate his brains while Matty watched.

Matty confirms Susie suffered a terrible fate, left to die in the sewer after losing an arm. He describes her bleeding and crying throughout the night until she ultimately stopped moving.

Matty offers a glimmer of hope, telling the others that Phil is still alive, though unable to speak or move. This news inspires the children to come up with a plan to brave the sewers and rescue their friend from Pennywise.

Matty guides the group back into the sewers, and they tragically find the bodies of Teddy and Susie, confirming what Matty had reported. But the horror doesn’t end there – they discover a third body, and it’s Phil, proving he’s been dead for some time. As Matty begins to chant a strange rhyme, a fourth body surfaces – it’s Matty himself. The ‘Matty’ they’ve been with then transforms, finally revealing Pennywise in his full, terrifying clown form in IT: Welcome to Derry.

Pennywise used a cruel and familiar tactic: he pretended to be Matty to trick the children into going down into the sewers. He made it seem like they could rescue their friend, but in truth, he had already killed Matty, Phil, Susie, and Teddy some time before.

As a horror fan, I always appreciate a glimmer of hope, and there’s actually a reason the kids in It (2017) believe their friend Beverly might still be alive. Pennywise doesn’t immediately kill her; instead, he kidnaps her, which is what draws the rest of the Losers’ Club into the sewers to search for her. What they find is pretty terrifying – Beverly is floating, unresponsive, basically paralyzed by Pennywise’s true form, the ‘deadlights,’ which are truly awful. But thankfully, the kids manage to pull her out of it and save her – it’s a really intense scene, but it shows there’s a chance even when things look completely hopeless.

Watching Welcome to Derry, I kept thinking about how easily any of the kids – Matty, Phil, Teddy, even Susie – could’ve ended up as one of Pennywise’s…collectibles. He could’ve kept them alive but completely out of it, a creepy lure for the others. But honestly, he didn’t even need that elaborate a plan. What really chilled me was how he just became Matty, using his voice and form to trick the group. It was a brilliant, horrifying manipulation, playing on their kindness and the fact that they genuinely trusted each other. It wasn’t about brute force; it was about insidious deception.

Although the kids were able to get away from Pennywise in the last episode, he’s still a threat and hasn’t given up on them.

Recent previews of the last episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 show the kids learning more about Pennywise’s history, including discovering what he looked like as a human. The fact that Pennywise was able to break into Dick Hallorann’s mind suggests Derry is in for even more trouble, and that the season will likely see many more people fall victim to the creature.

Read More

2025-11-28 23:15