Pennywise Is Back—And Scarier Than Ever: IT Welcome to Derry Makes the Wait Worth It

Get ready to float—the future is going buoyant, and it’s about to change how you move, meet and spend.

Pennywise finally clocks in. After a slow-burn first half that focused more on origin story than clown mayhem, It: Welcome to Derry is bringing Bill Skarsgard back in full ghoul mode for the back half of the season. Yes, the Dancing Clown is actually showing up, and the setup has been very deliberate.

So when do we see him?

The second half of the season kicks off Sunday, November 23 on Max, with new episodes also airing on HBO every Sunday at 9pm PT/ET. A mid-season trailer earlier this week confirmed we get way more Pennywise over the final four episodes. Bloody Disgusting also dropped an exclusive image of Skarsgard back in the makeup, and it looks nasty enough to justify the wait.

What the show has been doing instead

The first half planted the cosmic seeds. The series has laid out the creature’s origin in unusually blunt detail: it crash-landed on Earth in a meteor, long before humans were around. From there, the story pivots into a government plotline where the U.S. tries to capture the thing and turn its powers into a weapon. That thread is also playing with characters and ideas pulled from across Stephen King’s books, so keep your antenna up for crossovers and deep cuts.

Why the slow roll makes sense

If you’ve been grumbling about the lack of Pennywise so far, I get it. But the way the show has held him back actually lines up with the book’s vibe and structure. Front-loading the mythology and dread arguably makes this the most faithful screen take on King’s original novel yet. And it sets the table for a back half that should feel like pure Pennywise escalation.

The 1962 setup

As a reminder, this is a prequel set in 1962. We follow 14-year-old Will Hanlon, who will eventually become the father of Losers Club mainstay Mike Hanlon. Will moves to Derry when his dad, a Major in the U.S. Air Force, gets stationed there. Will gets bullied, finds a kindred outcast, and together they become the nucleus of the first iteration of the Losers Club. Yes, they will be staring down Pennywise sooner rather than later.

Skarsgard, fully armed and operational

Skarsgard is back in the role he made iconic in It and It: Chapter Two, and the marketing is leaning into the hungry, taunting side of Pennywise again. The new footage and that first-look photo say the same thing: the clown appetite is back, and it tastes like plot escalation.

"When I first met Pennywise, [Bill] was in full costume, full makeup. And it was actually the first scene we had with him. It was super scary. I think I almost crapped my pants," 12-year-old Arian S. Cartaya told GamesRadar+.

Quick catch-up before Sunday

• Pennywise shows up in the second half of the season, which starts Sunday, November 23 on Max, with episodes airing Sundays at 9pm PT/ET on HBO.
• There are four episodes left, and the mid-season trailer promises a lot more clown.
• We now know the creature arrived on Earth via meteor, pre-humanity.
• The U.S. government is actively trying to capture and weaponize it, with nods to broader Stephen King lore.
• Story is set in 1962 and follows 14-year-old Will Hanlon as the first Losers Club comes together.
• Bloody Disgusting premiered a new image of Bill Skarsgard back as Pennywise, and it looks worth the wait.