IT: Welcome to Derry Fan Theory Uncovers Pennywise's Blueprint for Eternal Torture

Here is a creepy one for your day: a new fan theory on Instagram is trying to explain why Pennywise eats people, and it lines up a little too well with what It: Welcome to Derry has been doing. It is smart, nasty, and full of deep-lore Stephen King stuff.

The Instagram theory, in plain English

Instagram user @grace.mitscherlich posted a theory built around the Deadlights — those glowing orbs that show up in It and It Chapter Two. According to the theory, when Pennywise hits you with the Deadlights, you do not just freeze up. You are stuck in a kind of nowhere space where time does not move. You are conscious, you are trapped, and it lasts forever. The really grim punchline: that endless suffering is the actual meal. Pennywise feeds on the torment, not just the flesh.

How that fits King lore (and the show)

In King canon, the Deadlights come from the Macroverse — a realm outside our universe. The clown, the giant spider, every shape It takes? Those are just physical costumes for what the Deadlights really are underneath.

Welcome to Derry has been stitching that mythology together pretty aggressively. Episode 4 lays out how It arrived: a meteor hits, something parasitic lands, and the thing spreads through the woods that eventually become Derry. The show is also crossing streams with other King stories. Major Dick Halloran shows up using the shine — call it a psychic/telekinetic ability if you want shorthand — to track Pennywise by the psychic signatures the victims leave behind. That is a very nerdy detail, but it connects The Shining and It in a clean way.

Episode 5 is finally clown time

The Episode 5 trailer basically says: you wanted Pennywise, here is Pennywise. The earlier episodes teased him hard (the carnival, that slow, taunting red balloon), and now the Dancing Clown is stepping into the light.

We also get a peek at Bob Gray — the human-facing identity tied to It — who will become the version everyone knows as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The story is leaning into the era too: Derry is boiling with racial violence and Cold War anxiety, which means there is a buffet of fear for the creature to gorge on. Expect a major turning point for the town and this show’s Losers Club.

"fear runs deeper."

Bill Skarsgard looks especially vicious here, and after roughly a decade playing this nightmare, he knows exactly how to weaponize a smile.

Quick primer if you are catching up

• Title: IT: Welcome to Derry
• Genre: Supernatural horror
• Based on: Stephen King’s 1986 novel 'It'
• Setting: Derry, Maine, 1962 (27 years before the first film)
• Premise: A family moves to Derry, a young boy disappears, and the town’s dark history starts surfacing as the show digs into Pennywise’s origins.
• Key characters: Lilly Bainbridge, Major Leroy Hanlon, Marge, Teddy Uris, Phil Malkin, Matty Clements
• Showrunner: Jason Fuchs
• Directors: Andy Muschietti
• Network: HBO
• First episode release: October 26, 2025
• Season 1: 8 episodes
• Release schedule: Sundays at 9 PM ET (U.S.)
• Themes: Origins of Pennywise, Derry’s curse, the 27-year cycle of evil, trauma, racism
• Connection to the It films: Full-on prequel that expands Pennywise’s backstory and Derry’s mythology
• Where to watch: Streaming on Max in the U.S. (airs on HBO)

So, is the Deadlights theory the secret sauce?

As theories go, this one clicks. Endless, frozen terror as an all-you-can-eat buffet for a cosmic parasite fits the Macroverse mythology, explains the Deadlights, and dovetails with what Welcome to Derry has been hinting at. It is also just mean in a way that feels right for this monster.

Are you into it, or is there a better explanation for why Pennywise eats? I am all ears — preferably not on a plate.