The first season of IT: Welcome to Derry concluded with a finale that resolved the 1962 conflict but ripped open the very fabric of time. While the main characters managed to send Pennywise back into hibernation, the ending revealed the cosmic entity’s ability to see across time and its new mission: to erase the future Losers’ Club by attacking their past .
The season wrapped by connecting its new characters directly to the future heroes of Derry, confirming a three-season plan that will move backward through history, and introducing a time-bending threat that could undo everything fans know from the original films .
How the 1962 Story Concluded for the Main Characters
The finale, titled “Winter Fire,” saw the characters unite to stop Pennywise from escaping Derry’s borders. A military plan to weaponize the creature backfired, destroying one of the mystical pillars that caged It and forcing a final confrontation .
- Marge, Lilly, and Ronnie successfully plunged a ceremonial dagger into a tree at the edge of town, re-sealing the protective cage around Derry with spiritual help from their lost friend, Rich .
- Will Hanlon was rescued from Pennywise’s clutches. He, along with his parents Charlotte and Leroy Hanlon, decided to stay in Derry on a farm, beginning a family legacy of watching over the town—a duty their future grandson, Mike Hanlon, will continue .
- Dick Hallorann played a key role in distracting Pennywise using his psychic “Shine.” After the battle, he revealed plans to leave the military and work as a chef at a friend’s hotel, foreshadowing his future at the haunted Overlook Hotel from The Shining .
Ronnie and her father, Hank, were among the few to leave Derry for good, driving away as the episode’s title card changed to read “IT: Welcome to Derry Chapter One,” signaling the story is far from over .
The Finale’s Major Reveal: Marge and the Future Losers’ Club
The most significant revelation came during a private taunt from Pennywise. The entity isolated Marge and called her “Margaret Tozier,” a name she did not yet own .
Pennywise revealed that Marge would one day become the mother of Richie Tozier—the loud-mouthed, joke-cracking member of the Losers’ Club portrayed by Finn Wolfhard in the 2017 movie . The show suggests she will name her son after her brave friend, Rich Santos, who died earlier in the season .
“The seed of your stinking loins and his filthy friends bring me my death! Or is it birth?” Pennywise growled at Marge. “I get confused. Tomorrow? Yesterday? It’s all the same for little Pennywise.”
This statement introduced the finale’s second, earth-shattering twist: Pennywise does not experience time linearly like humans do . For the creature, past, present, and future are all accessible and happening at once. It perceives its future defeat at the hands of the Losers’ Club as a known event, and this knowledge is now driving its actions .
What Pennywise’s New Goal Means for the Story
This non-linear perception of time is the key to the entire series’ structure. Co-creator Andy Muschietti confirmed the plan is for Welcome to Derry to span three seasons, each moving backward to a prior horror cycle in Derry’s history .
- Season 1 covered the Black Spot fire of 1962.
- A potential Season 2 would explore the massacre of the Bradley Gang in 1935.
- A potential Season 3 would delve into the Ironworks explosion in 1908.
Pennywise’s new goal is to use this backwards journey through time to rewrite history. Knowing that Marge’s future son helps destroy it, the entity may attempt to go further into the past to eliminate the ancestors of the Losers’ Club, thereby preventing their births and ensuring its own survival .
Marge voiced this fear to her friend Lilly, wondering if the clown could “go back and kill someone from the time before we were born, like our parents?” Lilly’s response hinted at the show’s future direction: “I guess it’ll be someone else’s fight.”
Direct Links to the IT Movies Confirmed
The finale included two major connections to the previous IT films, firmly placing this series in the same continuity.
First, a post-credits scene flashed forward to 1988 at the Juniper Hill asylum. A young Beverly Marsh (played by Sophia Lillis, reprising her film role) is seen grieving her mother’s death . She is approached by an elderly inmate, Ingrid Kersh, who delivers the ominous line, “No one who dies in Derry ever really dies.”
This same character, now known as Mrs. Kersh, would later terrorize an adult Beverly (Jessica Chastain) in IT: Chapter Two. The producers stated they wanted to create a “visual connection” to the beloved movie characters, with this scene showing a tragic meeting neither woman would remember .
Second, the confirmation that Marge is Richie Tozier’s mother creates a direct bloodline between the new series and the Losers’ Club. Andy Muschietti revealed this was the “first idea” he had for the entire show, conceived even before pitching it to Stephen King .
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The Uncertain Fate of Characters in Future Seasons
With the story moving to earlier time periods, the future of the 1962 characters is uncertain. Co-creator Jason Fuchs stated that “all things are possible” in the Stephen King universe, especially with a villain who views time in a “unique, cockeyed way.”
He expressed particular curiosity about the fate of Will Hanlon, who chose to move back into Derry proper despite knowing its horrors. Fuchs pondered, “Why did Will go back in the cage?… What was he up to?” This leaves the door open for characters to potentially reappear, even as the narrative shifts to different centuries .
The season finale of IT: Welcome to Derry is now streaming on HBO Max.
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