It: Welcome to Derry Showrunner Reveals Episode 5’s Cruelest Moment Was Deemed Too Wrong for It: Chapter Two

Episode 5 of It: Welcome to Derry pulls one of the nastiest tricks the show has pulled so far — and co-showrunner Jason Fuchs says the seed for it came from a wild, abandoned idea he once tried in It: Chapter Two. Yes, really.

Spoilers ahead for episode 5.

The gut punch: Matty Clements walks back in

Fuchs told GamesRadar+ that the team wanted something cruel, surprising, and smart — and landed on It impersonating the kids' dead friend, Matty Clements, to steer everyone exactly where It wanted them. That plays out with Lily, Ronnie, Rich, and Will scrambling to get anyone in charge to take Pennywise seriously. Then Matty suddenly shows up, somehow alive despite dying in the first ten minutes of the series. He says he has been surviving in the sewers and claims their murdered friend Phil is actually still down there too. Marge, newly convinced Ronnie's dad is innocent, joins them, and the group follows 'Matty' underground.

• They wade into the tunnels, chasing the promise of Phil.
• Bodies of their dead friends float up — including the real Matty.
• The Matty standing with them distorts, stretches, and turns into Pennywise.
• It has used Matty's face to funnel the kids into danger and straight into the path of Leroy and his team — the military presence we have been watching move into place.

The origin story: a scrapped Chapter Two twist

Here is the deep-cut behind-the-scenes bit: Fuchs says he originally played with a similar idea while doing production work on It: Chapter Two. In King’s book and in the film, Mike Hanlon never left Derry, and he brings the Losers back for the Ritual of Chud. Fuchs had a version where, once the Losers descended into the cistern, they found an emaciated, filthy Mike chained up — and realized the Mike they had been with all movie, the one played by Isaiah Mustafa, was actually It in disguise.

Why it did not make the movie

They binned it because it would have undercut Mike Hanlon, full stop. Adult Mike as the keeper of Derry’s history — the librarian who does the homework and connects the dots — is core to both the book (his research shows up in that sprawling index) and the films. Fuchs says that twist would have meant spending almost the entire movie with a fake Mike and only getting the real man for a sliver of the third act. That is a dealbreaker.

"It felt like an interesting idea that was wrong because it didn't do justice to Mike. And so we abandoned it."

Why it fits Welcome to Derry

Cut to the series. The team asked: what if It is a little stronger at this point in the timeline, and we use that trick here? It solves multiple problems at once — it gets the kids into jeopardy in the sewers and collides their story with the military operation led by Leroy. Fuchs says he pitched it on the phone to fellow showrunner Brad Caleb Kane and they both landed on the same reaction: 'Oh yeah, this is exactly it.'

It: Welcome to Derry is streaming now on HBO Max.