Welcome to Derry Stars Reveal the It Prequel Scenes They Still Can't Watch Alone

If you like hearing actors admit what actually freaked them out on their own horror show, this one is for you. Two of IT: Welcome to Derry's young leads, Arian S. Cartaya (Rich) and Blake Cameron James (Will), just walked through the moments that rattled them the most — and yes, a lot of it comes back to Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise.

Arian S. Cartaya: the graveyard, the sewer, and a personal gut-punch

Cartaya, who you might know from Gordita Chronicles, told Collider that the cemetery sequence in Episode 3 is the one that really got under his skin. In it, Rich is riding his bike when the ghost of his uncle — a major influence on his life back in Cuba — literally floats over his head. That personal hook made the scare land harder for him. He says he was shocked in the moment because it felt less like a generic horror beat and more like something aimed squarely at him.

Then came Episode 5, where Rich and his friends finally come face-to-face with Pennywise in the sewers for the first time. That was the day Skarsgard lunged at them mid-scene, and Cartaya admits he was not acting through that reaction.

'That scene when he lunged towards us in the sewers, I genuinely think I crapped my pants.'

Blake Cameron James: lifelong clown terror and a gnarly underwater shot

James is right there with him on the clown front. He says Pennywise has been his biggest fear for as long as he can remember, and watching Skarsgard just do his thing on set did not help.

'Pennywise has been my biggest fear, forever. Him, just being himself, is the scariest thing to me.'

James also shouted out a different kind of nightmare in Episode 4, when Will gets yanked underwater. There is a slick shot from beneath the surface where he is screaming, and he admitted he had no idea how the CG would sell it until he saw the finished scene — including the look of 'Leroy' under the water. File that under cool little behind-the-scenes detail you do not normally get: a young actor getting to see how the digital piece completes a practical panic.

The moments that messed them up most

• Episode 3, the graveyard: Rich bikes through a cemetery as the ghost of his uncle floats over him — a scare that hit Cartaya harder because of his real-life connection to his uncle in Cuba.
• Episode 4, the drowning pull: Will is dragged underwater; James loves the underwater POV of him screaming and only later saw how the CG for 'Leroy' completed the shot.
• Episode 5, first clown encounter: Rich and friends meet Pennywise in the sewers for the first time; Skarsgard lunges at them, and Cartaya says he basically lost it on the spot.

Where the season was when they said it

At the time they spoke, six of the eight episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry had aired. The final two were scheduled for December 7 and December 14 on HBO and Max.