*Spoiler*

The widely recognized entity, IT, commonly known as Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgard (Hemlock Grove, The Grove) within It:Welcome to Derry gets a new origin story. According to Comicbook, it was revealed in the latest episode that the major antagonist fell to earth on a falling star millions of years ago from the macroverse and its original form was the Deadlights. The story was told by Taniel, played by Joshua Odjick (The Long Walk, Wildhood) stated that the star was the creature’s prison.

Comicbook reports, the episode revealed that the entity couldn’t go past the western wood, but then settlers that came to Derry would disregard the warnings of the tribe and went in. Unfortunately, they became prey to the creature, which in turn increased its range. We were also introduced to another weakness of the creature that was not shown in either the films or the books: fragments of the star, which the tribe collected and used as a barrier to contain it

Kimberly Norris-Guerrero (Spirit Rangers, Frozen, Stupid), who plays Rose within the series talks about the significance about this with Comicbook,” it’s a beautiful opportunity to expand on the King universe, because undergirding a lot of the stories is the land. The land is a character itself. The land of Derry is rife with history. The land under The Shining is rife with history. The land underneath Shawshank Prison is rife with history, and that history is our history.”

Stated by Comicbook, this shift in the storytelling offers a stronger foundation and presents Pennywise’s approach as a twisted reflection of the town’s hidden historical darkness. With about half of the season still shrouded in mystery, viewers are left wondering what horrors await the citizens of Derry. All current episodes of  It: Welcome to Derry are available to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes released every Sunday.