Pennywise extending a hand in IT: Welcome to DerryImage via HBO Max
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Shawn Van Horn
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Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.
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Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 7.
In most horror films and TV shows, one line that often isn't crossed is the on-screen killing of a child. In the Halloween films, Michael Myers only killed one. In the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason Voorhees never harmed a pre-teen. Sometimes, horror will go darker, but no movie monster is as ruthless as Pennywise from Stephen King's IT. In the novel, miniseries, and Andy Muschietti's first film, we first meet the clown when he is pulling poor Georgie down into the sewer.
Pennywise feeds on fear, and what's better for a hungry alien than a kid being scared of a clown? Many kids die in every iteration of IT, and the IT: Welcome to Derry TV series on HBO Max is no different. The very first episode even has the twist ending of three kids being ripped apart! But no amount of shocking kid deaths can compare to what happens to the heroic Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) in the series' latest episode, "The Black Spot." His sacrifice for Marge (Matilda Lawler) was way more brutal to watch than any clown biting into flesh.
'IT' Is Still Stephen King's Scariest Creation for One Reason
Stephen King is called the master of horror for a reason. For half a century, he's been scaring audiences in every way imaginable. The Shining has ghosts in a hotel possessing a man and leading him on a mission to kill his family, while Pet Sematary brings a dead toddler back from the dead as something no longer human and Misery shows what happens when an obsessed fan gets the chance to meet the author she idolizes. But nothing King has written has gripped readers like IT. Not only did he make his monster a freaking clown, which many people already instinctively fear, but he made that clown a kid killer on top of it.
IT doesn't hold back. If King isn't graphically describing the detailed deaths of characters like Georgie or Patrick Hockstetter, he's implying the demise of others. The IT miniseries, being a network TV production, had to hold back with the gore, but Andy Muschietti doesn't. In 2017's IT, we see Georgie's arm ripped off. In IT: Chapter 2, the clown attacks little Vicky (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and chows down on Dean (Luke Roessler) in the funhouse. When IT: Welcome to Derry premiered, everyone knew kids were going to die. That first episode's ending, with so much prepubescent carnage, might have been wild, but it fit what Pennywise is, and while shocking, it wasn't really unexpected.
Rich and Marge's Romance Is a Bright Spot in 'Welcome to Derry'
IT: Welcome to Derry has not only upped the death and gore, but it's also layered with heartbreak. Ronnie (Amanda Christine) is sad because her dad, Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), is being wrongly pursued by the town's racist police chief. Will (Blake Cameron James) is new to town and scared of what might happen to his dad in his military job. Marge wants so badly to fit in that she's nearly willing to betray her best friend, Lilly (Clara Stack), who is the show's most tragic character of all by far. Her dad was killed in a pickle factory accident that she blames herself for, and she's ended up in the Juniper Hill psychiatric hospital twice as a result of becoming the town pariah.
The happiest kid in this new group of Losers is Rich, a short Cuban boy who always has a smile on his face, easily makes friends with other outcasts, and has the biggest crush on Marge, despite her initially not giving him the time of day. The entity brings them closer, making them unlikely friends as they fight off the thing that wants to kill them. But in Episode 6, "In the Name of the Father," IT: Welcome to Derry hints at the beginning of one of the series' sweetest romances.
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Arian S. Cartaya and Blake Cameron James also talk about bonding with their Losers Club co-stars.
Posts By Christina Radish 6 days agoWhen Marge is trying to change the bandage on her wounded eye, Rich wants to help. He's not scared by her injury, but thinks it's cool, and he's gentle in how he changes it. When they're sitting together at lunch, excited to learn how much they have in common, they start to discuss knights rescuing fair maidens. After Marge stands up to the popular girls, choosing to stay with Rich instead, he looks at her with such admiration that you can't help but feel it through the screen. She later gives him the same look at the Black Spot when she realizes how good a drummer he is, but this is as good as it's going to get for them, because Rich won't be leaving this place alive.
Rich's Death in 'IT: Welcome to Derry' Could Have Been Prevented
Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) and Marge (Matilda) trying to hide during a fire in 'IT: Welcome to Derry'Image via Warner Bros. Television
If you're a fan of the IT novel, the sheer mention of the Black Spot brings a feeling of immense dread. In the book, a short passage tells us that the all-Black club was burned down, and that Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) and Pennywise were there. It's up to Muschietti and company to fill in the blanks. The killer clown does indeed feed on many in "The Black Spot," but none of them are kids. There is no relief in this, though, because a death that has nothing to do with Pennywise is the most gut-wrenching in franchise history.
With there being no way out of the burning Black Spot, Rich forces Marge into a small freezer that can only hold one person. He doesn't freak out and cry at sealing his own fate because he's a heroic knight, and now is his moment to save his fair maiden. He pushes Marge down, putting his body on top of the freezer and refusing to let her out, calming her with a story about a time they interacted and then telling Marge that he loves her. Rich never falters, never leaves, never gets scared. He knows he's going to die, yet he accepts it, because his sacrifice is worth it if it means Marge lives.
Pennywise has been terrorizing many of these new Losers on IT: Welcome to Derry, but for the most part, Rich had been left alone. He's here with these new friends because he wants to be, yet he continuously puts himself in harm's way. He's the only one who might be best suited to survive the town's horror, only to die in a way that has nothing to do with Pennywise. Instead, his life is ended by a racist mob. Hate, not fear, is what gets Rich killed, but his love is what saves Marge.
It: Welcome to Derry
TV-MA
Horror
Mystery
Drama
6
10
Release Date
October 26, 2025
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Drama
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