Welcome back to Derry, where the show wastes zero time telling you what kind of nightmare it wants to be. The pilot for IT: Welcome to Derry ends with a two-headed winged baby flying off a movie screen and murdering three kids in the theater. Yes, that sentence is accurate. And yes, it is exactly as gnarly as it sounds.
What actually happens in the pilot
The episode follows a group of kids trying to track down their missing friend Matty. That search takes them to the Capitol Theater, where things go sideways fast. A winged, mutant infant appears in the film they’re watching, then literally flies out of the projection and into the auditorium. It tears Teddy in half, hauls Phil into the rafters, and bites off Susie’s arm before finishing her off. Lilly and Ronnie bolt for the lobby, one of them clutching Susie’s severed hand. Not exactly a gentle onboarding.
The episode also bookends itself with that same winged baby, and the show is not subtle about who we’re looking at. We get the warped, crossed eyes from the movies and Matty’s smile stretching into Pennywise’s full, cheek-splitting grin. Translation: this thing is IT, not a random monster-of-the-week.
So why a two-headed demon baby?
Director Andy Muschietti told IGN he wanted a shock that instantly sets the rules: nobody is safe, not even the kids you assume are the leads. His words, not mine:
"A narrative device to basically get people in that mindset where no one is safe in this world, even clearly the ones that you’re going to follow over the rest of the show... that unexpected thing that will hook the audience into wanting to keep watching."
The baby design is doing double duty. It: Welcome to Derry is set in 1962, smack in the middle of Cold War paranoia. Muschietti ties the scare to the era’s anxieties: duck-and-cover drills, nuclear dread, radiation, and very real fears about birth defects. Layer that with the primal horror of birth itself and you get a grotesque infant with wings and two heads swooping down on an audience. It’s a messed-up visual cocktail, and it’s very IT: fear made flesh.
Also worth repeating for anyone expecting nonstop clown content: Pennywise the Dancing Clown is just one of IT’s skins. The winged baby is another. The season will dig into Pennywise’s origin and introduce his human form, but not right away. Marketing might be clown-forward; the show is playing the long game.
How the episode plays (style vs. substance)
Muschietti directs the pilot and delivers big, slick, CG-heavy scares and some nasty imagery (Teddy’s lampshade fear is a real 'did he just say that?' moment). The problem is the character work does not land. We hop plot to plot without much breathing room, and attempts to dig into Leroy Hanlon’s backstory don’t quite connect. The young cast rarely registers beyond 'we’ve seen this archetype before,' with one exception: Lilly’s final scream sells it.
None of this is new territory. Awkward kids vs. cosmic horror in a small town is a lane that’s been paved and repaved. The pilot’s kill spree is startling in a 'wow, they went there' way, but it stings more as a narrative rug-pull than an emotional gut punch, because we barely know these kids before they’re gone.
What could turn the whole thing around? A sharp, character-driven Pennywise origin that reframes the myth. Bill Skarsgard is back as the clown at some point this season, and a new look at him hit the internet this week. If the show sticks the origin angle, there’s real potential beyond the jump scares.
Quick facts, in one place
- Title and episode: IT: Welcome to Derry — 'The Pilot'
- When and where: April 1962, Derry, Maine; Cold War fear is everywhere
- Premise: A new cycle of IT’s terror begins as disappearances mount and an ancient evil stirs again
- Monster of the week (but actually IT): A two-headed, winged demon baby — another of IT’s shapeshifts, embodying nuclear-era anxiety and fears about birth defects
- What happens in the theater: Teddy is torn in half, Phil is dragged into the air and killed, Susie loses an arm and dies; Lilly and Ronnie escape clutching Susie’s severed hand
- Matty status: Missing by episode’s end, effectively in IT’s grasp
- Pennywise connection: The baby’s crossed eyes and grin echo the clown; Pennywise shows up later this season, with a human-form origin in the cards (not immediately)
- Themes: Fear as fuel, sudden child death, 'no one is safe,' and Cold War trauma refracted through supernatural horror
- Main cast and characters: Clara Stack as Lilly; Amanda Christine as Ronnie; Mikkal Karim-Fidler as Teddy; Jack Molloy Legault as Phil; Matilda Legault as Susie; Miles Ekhardt as Matty; Jovan Adepo as Leroy Hanlon; James Remar as General Shaw; Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann; Rudy Mancuso as Pauly Russo; Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise
- Kingverse connective tissue: Dick Hallorann links directly to The Shining; the Hanlon surname will ring a bell for IT fans
- Creator/craft: Directed by Andy Muschietti; written by showrunner Jason Fuchs (from Stephen King’s source material); executive producer Brad Caleb Kane
- Timeline placement: 27 years before the 2017 film’s story (which takes place in 1989)
- Release info: Premiered October 26, 2025 on HBO Max in the U.S.; Episode 2 drops October 31, 2025
- Expectation check: A new image of Skarsgard’s Pennywise surfaced this week; clown appearances are coming, but the pilot is more about setting tone and rules
Bottom line
The pilot makes a loud point: this Derry is lethal, unpredictable, and not shy about crossing lines. The spectacle works; the character beats mostly don’t. If the show nails its Pennywise origin and gives the horror some emotional backbone, there’s a compelling series here. For now, I’m curious, not hooked.
What did you think of that theater sequence and the mutant baby choice? Drop your take below.
IT: Welcome to Derry is streaming now on HBO Max in the U.S. Episode 2 hits October 31, 2025.