IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 3 Ending Explained: The Photo Clue That Changes Everything
IT: Welcome to Derry turns the dread up to eleven in Episode 3, closing on a bone-chilling cemetery séance as the new Losers Club rolls an analog camera to trap Derry’s ghouls on film — and the footage suggests the nightmare is just getting started.
Episode 3 of IT: Welcome to Derry does two things at once: it pushes the kids right into the mouth of the nightmare, and it quietly threads a century of Derry history into one long, very cursed timeline. It is also very clearly setting the table for Bill Skarsgard to waltz in and ruin everyone's day.
The cemetery seance that literally chased them out
The new Losers Club tries to prove Derry is actually haunted, so they haul an analog camera into a graveyard and attempt a seance. It looks like a bust... until it really, really isn’t. The dead start rising and chasing them on their bikes. In the scramble, Lilly and Will keep snapping photos and manage to grab a shot near the crypt. Later, in the darkroom, the images finally develop into a proper welcome: a clown in the frame that sure reads as Pennywise. Subtle? Not even a little. Effective setup for Skarsgard’s entrance? Absolutely.
Back to the circus, 1908: yes, the balloons are a tell
This episode opens on Francis Shaw at a traveling circus in 1908 Derry, one of the earlier cycles of the thing that becomes Pennywise. Before he steps into a grotesque funhouse, red balloons are everywhere. The show is not playing coy about the Bob Gray connection (that’s the human alias for the clown in King lore). It’s classic breadcrumbing: obvious Easter eggs, steady suspense, and a reminder that the clown is only one mask of something much older and much worse.
Pennywise, in case you need the quick-and-dirty refresher
- True nature: an ancient cosmic thing from beyond our reality (the Macroverse), usually taking a monstrous spider-like shape under the clown act
- Common disguise: Pennywise the Dancing Clown
- Shapeshifting: turns into whatever scares you most, custom-built nightmares included
- Illusions: conjures horrible, convincing visuals to confuse and control
- Immortality: doesn’t age or die by normal means
- Regeneration: bounces back fast from damage
- The Deadlights: mind-shattering, lethal otherworldly glow if you look straight at it
- Possession: can take over other beings
- Historical footprint: nudges Derry into violence, including the Bradley Gang Massacre, and resurfaces roughly every 27 years
The Major, a slingshot, and a warning from the shine
Major Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) tries to track It using the same slingshot Francis Shaw and Rose once used in their forest showdown with the entity. That trail leads him into a very familiar sewer space, where he spots an old wagon with one word painted on it:
"Pennywise"
Then the show goes full King-verse. The Major has the shine — yes, that shine — and it screams at him that if the military keeps pushing down this path, they’re about to crack open something that should stay sealed. It’s a neat, eerie cross-current with The Shining that also doubles as a big red stop sign.
The Bradley Gang finally locks into place
Remember the car excavated in Episode 2? Episode 3 makes it explicit: it’s from the Bradley Gang, the same crew of outlaws led by Al and George Bradley who were recognized while trying to reload and then ambushed and torn apart by armed Derry civilians back in 1935. The bullet-riddled vehicle isn’t just a prop; it ties the Major’s shine directly to Pennywise’s influence over town-wide violence. This hour basically strings the terror from 1908 through 1935 and lands us on the doorstep of 1962, connecting cycles like a grim scrapbook.
Where the show stands (and where it’s headed)
IT: Welcome to Derry comes from creators Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Jason Fuchs, with Andy Muschietti directing multiple episodes including the pilot. The main cast includes Jovan Adepo as Major Leroy Hanlon, Taylour Paige as Charlotte Hanlon, James Remar as General Francis Shaw, and Matilda Lawler as Marge Truman. As of now, it’s sitting at 7.8/10 on IMDb and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Between the cemetery reveal, the circus flashback, and the Bradley Gang confirmation, Episode 3 is the connective tissue for Pennywise’s big cycles — 1908 to 1962 — and the show is clearly edging the clown out of the shadows. Expect Episode 4 to lean even harder into the teeth.
What did you think of that ending?
IT: Welcome to Derry is currently streaming on HBO Max in the U.S.