IT: Welcome to Derry and the Origin of Pennywise’s Human Half

Spoilers travel for IT: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-7.

Episode 7 of IT: Welcome to Derry introduced america to Bob Gray, a quality concisely glimpsed successful the movie IT Chapter Two but 1 who is of large involvement to fans of Stephen King’s creation. Essentially, Bob Gray is the original, quality Pennywise, whose signifier It began to favour taking to hunt the children of Derry. Now Welcome to Derry is yet telling his story.

Andy Muschietti, who directed the IT movies and developed Welcome to Derry with his sister/producing spouse Barbara Muschietti and co-showrunner Jason Fuchs, told maine that the extremity of the amusement was ever to excavation into the “big enigmas” that are presented successful the Stephen King book. He felt that King intentionally created an incomplete puzzle, with cryptic characters and events that lent themselves to being further explored. And main among them was the quality of Bob Gray, aka the antheral who would go Pennywise.

Bill Skarsgård arsenic Bob Gray and Emma-Leigh Cullum arsenic his young daughter, Ingrid

Bob Gray, the Man Behind the Clown

“Bob Gray, the antheral down the clown,” said Andy. “[He’s] an implicit mystery. It's mentioned a mates of times [in the book], but ne'er is determination truly a fleshing retired of the story.”

Barbara points retired that the enigma of this quality was a large portion of what brought the amusement into existence, and it each came from the conversations that Andy and Pennywise histrion Bill Skarsgård had during accumulation of IT Chapter Two successful 2018.

“Bill did a precise tiny flashback into Bob Gray and loved it,” she recalled. “So they started talking astir exploring that. And erstwhile the pandemic came, Andy's like, ‘Let's commencement talking astir that!’”

With the improvement clip the pandemic allowed, the Muschiettis and Skarsgård started to truly excavation successful connected what Bob Gray’s communicative mightiness be, arsenic it has ne'er been fleshed retired by Stephen King. Yes, we cognize astir Pennywise’s cosmic origins, but the dancing clown? Not truthful much. Until now.

“It's much similar an incarnation of Bob Gray [in IT Chapter Two], it's an IT incarnation, truthful you tin spot the evil behind,” said Andy. “But who was Bob Gray really? It each started there. And past delving deeper into it, I went backmost into each the interludes and each the catastrophic events that are depicted successful each 1 of the cycles. And I saw a communicative there, a hidden communicative that was worthy telling. And of people determination was a batch of invention, which was portion of the excitement of it. It's like, OK, we're going to capable the gaps, enactment each the pieces of the puzzle that are missing.”

The Origin of Pennywise’s Human Self

The attack past was to fig retired who the quality quality was. For starters, the writers and producers knew they didn’t privation him to beryllium immoderate benignant of a psychopath. And they wanted to find the humanity of the character.

“It's shrouded successful a spot of acheronian and ominousness,” said Andy. “But we presented him arsenic idiosyncratic that was benign, that was fundamentally idiosyncratic that beingness didn't enactment precise good for. He has a girl and helium wants to bash well. And past erstwhile Bill yet came in, we started truly granularly exploring the quality and helium said, ‘All this is good, but I don't deliberation we should bash specified a wholesome thing.’ And that's wherever alcoholism appeared, the grumpiness. And truthful it's precise nuanced. You spot a quality that is taking swigs from a flask successful betwixt erstwhile the curtains fall. And there's a crushed for that. The crushed is the decease of his wife.”

This is the backstory that was created for the quality by Muschietti, Skarsgård, and the show’s writers, and which we get a existent consciousness for successful Episode 7.

“Bob Gray was a large clown successful a large circus,” explains Andy. “One time helium mislaid his woman and that benignant of pushed him into a down-spiraling spread wherever helium became an alcoholic. He was fired from the circus, rehired sometime aboriginal into a tiny traveling circus, and we person this country wherever he's fundamentally talking to his girl and helium reminisces astir the bully aged times. And adjacent though he's successful atrocious signifier close now, due to the fact that he's an alcoholic, helium has hope. And Ingrid, his small daughter, is what keeps the anticipation live for him.”

Of course, Ingrid is Ingrid Kersh, aka Periwinkle (another invention of Welcome to Derry’s), the big mentation of whom is played by Madeleine Stowe. And surely her dad’s disappearance aft his run-in with IT leads her beingness to a not-great place, to accidental the least. But that’s a antithetic story.

Madeleine Stowe arsenic the big Ingrid Kersh/Periwinkle

Maturin, The Dark Tower Connections, and Welcome to Derry Seasons 2 and 3

The Muschiettis told maine that erstwhile they started putting the communicative unneurotic for the show, they had overmuch much than they could perchance see successful conscionable 1 season. And truthful a three-season program was hatched, arsenic the writers had to instrumentality chunks of communicative retired and prevention them for aboriginal seasons.

“It's a bigger communicative that goes crossed the 2 pursuing seasons,” Andy explained. “It talks much astir the crushed of IT, what is IT, what does IT want, and wherefore is IT successful this level of existence? But also, it's a glimpse into the bigger mythology that looms connected the different side. The happening with the publication is that it's told from the position of our quality characters precise much. There's lone similar 2 oregon 3 moments that, done the Maturin basal oregon the Smoke-Hole, we entree different planes of reality, but it's precise sparse. It's conscionable very, precise contained, but it does truly link to different works of Stephen King, chiefly The Dark Tower. And there's truthful overmuch astir the turtle, Maturin. That is 1 of those things that radical who emotion these movies, they truly are into Maturin. So fundamentally crossed the 2 much seasons, we're going to research the bigger mythology.”

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 8, Season 1 Finale Release Date and Time

The last occurrence of IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 volition debut connected HBO Max astatine 6pm PT/9pm ET connected Sunday, December 14. Tell them Bob Gray sent you!