After years of mystery, the new HBO series IT: Welcome to Derry is starting to answer one of the biggest questions from Stephen King’s universe: why the evil entity Pennywise has never left its small hometown. The show’s recent episodes provide a major clue, suggesting the ancient creature is not in Derry by choice but is actually imprisoned there.
The series, which serves as a prequel to the recent IT films, explores the dark history of Derry, Maine. The newest revelation comes from a flashback storyline in the show’s third episode, which aired on November 9, 2025. The scene strongly implies that Pennywise is confined to a specific geographical area and cannot leave, reframing Derry not just as a hunting ground, but as a prison for the creature.
The Clue from 1908
The third episode of Welcome to Derry travels back to the year 1908, during one of Pennywise’s active cycles. The story follows a young Francis Shaw, who would decades later become the General overseeing a secret military operation in Derry.
While playing, Francis runs into the woods against the pleas of his friend, a Native American girl named Rose. There, he encounters the shapeshifting creature. Rose bravely follows to rescue him, and the two children manage to escape back to the safety of the tree line. Once they are outside the woods, they are perfectly safe from the creature.
Rose then promises to tell Francis a secret, explaining what the creature is and, most importantly, why it cannot leave the woods. While the audience does not yet hear this secret, the scene makes it clear that a concrete limitation is in place.
A Prison, Not a Home
This new information provides a compelling answer to a long-standing question about Pennywise’s behavior. The creature is an ancient cosmic being that feeds on fear roughly every 27 years. Remaining in a small town like Derry is a strategic disadvantage; if it could move to a larger city, it would have an endless supply of prey and be much harder to track.
The fact that it has never left has often been attributed to a parasitic connection to the town. However, Welcome to Derry introduces a more concrete and physical limitation to its power. The series effectively reframes Derry as Pennywise’s prison. The creature isn’t simply choosing to stay in its preferred hunting ground—it is physically unable to leave for a mysterious reason.
The Keepers of the Secret
The flashback positions Rose as a key figure who holds ancient knowledge about the entity’s true nature and its weaknesses. This sets her on a collision course with General Shaw in the 1960s timeline. The older Shaw, now played by James Remar, is determined to locate and weaponize Pennywise for the U.S. military during the Cold War.
Rose, now an adult played by Kimberly Guerrero, owns the Second Hand Rose thrift store in Derry. Her character appears to be the link to the ancient rules that bind the creature, knowledge that has been passed down through her community.
Connecting to the Larger Story
This new detail adds a crucial layer to the mythology established in Stephen King’s novel and the subsequent films. The series creators, Andy and Barbara Muschietti, who also directed the IT movies, are exploring the unfinished puzzles left in King’s book.
“It’s almost like Stephen King, in his book, is purposely leaving an unfinished puzzle for the audience [to solve],” Andy Muschietti told the Television Academy. “I wanted to take that unfinished puzzle and do something with it.”
While Stephen King is not directly involved in the writing or production, the Muschiettis have a relationship of trust with the author. “He reads the scripts and he watches the episodes — and he does it with curiosity and excitement,” Barbara Muschietti said.
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A New Direction for the Horror
The discovery that Pennywise is trapped changes the dynamic of the horror. It introduces a new vulnerability for the seemingly all-powerful creature and suggests that those who understand the rules of its confinement might have a chance against it. The secret that young Rose promised to share is now a central mystery of the series, a mystery that will likely define the battle against the creature in episodes to come.
New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.
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