It: Welcome to Derry Upends the Legend: Is Pennywise All Terror, No Brains?

So, about that It: Welcome to Derry finale. The show drops a big one: Pennywise tells Marge exactly who she becomes and how this all ends for him. It answers one long-running theory and opens up a bigger, nerdier can of worms.

The finale twist, in plain English

Pennywise tells Marge she will become Marge Tozier, have a son named Richie Tozier, and that Richie and his friends will eventually come back to kill him. That pretty much stamps the fan theory about Marge being Richie’s mom as canon.

But it also raises the obvious question: if he knows how and by whom he dies, why doesn’t he do anything about it? Why not kill Marge? Why still snatch Georgie and kick off the chain of events that leads straight to It: Chapter 2? Fans have been arguing whether the clown is being reckless on purpose or if he’s stuck in a future he can’t change.

The creators’ answer: time is weird for Pennywise

'His experience of time is non-linear.'

That’s creator Andy Muschietti, talking to Deadline. He didn’t unpack the mechanics yet, but says the show plans to dig into it in future seasons. According to Muschietti, the non-linear time idea was baked in from the very first pitch to Stephen King.

He also told Variety the series’ reverse-chronology design is tied directly to how Pennywise perceives time. They tease that in the Season 1 ending, and the plan is to keep moving backward to explore his past and this whole out-of-order relationship with cause and effect.

What’s next (as far as they’ll say)

• Muschietti says the plan is a three-season run.
• Future seasons go backward in time, including a jump to 1935.
• That 1935 storyline is set during the Great Depression in Derry and involves the Bradley Gang massacre from the book.
• Expect new characters plus some Season 1 faces in younger forms.
• They want to explore much more about Bob Gray and his daughter, Ingrid Kersh — she shows up at Juniper Hill Asylum in the Season 1 finale.
• Small catch: the show has not been officially renewed for Season 2 yet.
• For now, It: Welcome to Derry is streaming on HBO Max.

So the short version: the clown isn’t dumb; he’s out of sync. Whether that means he can’t change what he sees or just doesn’t bother is what the show says it will answer as it rewinds further into Derry’s history. Do you buy the time-warp logic, or do you think he should have at least tried to dodge his own ending?