The first episode of It: Welcome to Derry ended with a huge twist, when the kids who were expected to be the show's "Losers Club" were brutally murdered by "It" in the form of a mutant baby with two heads and wings.
Much has been said about when and where we'll see Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise the Clown in his classic form, as well as how much screentime he'll receive. The entity can take the form of any nightmarish vision it wishes to torment its victims with, meaning we'll likely see Pennywise in many different forms in upcoming episodes.
Now, scooper Daniel Richtman has revealed (via FearHQ.com) that Skarsgård's Pennywise only appears in It: Welcome to Derry from the fifth episode onwards. This is an eight-episode season, meaning the iconic monster will be part of at least half the series.
It seems likely that Pennywise will continue to be teased over the next few weeks, before making a huge splash in that fifth instalment. Skarsgård's busy schedule may have also had an impact on how sparingly the clown is used here.
Talking to Screen Rant, It: Welcome to Derry executive producer Barbara Muschietti explained, "It's been very important, from the first movie, to treat him as a very unpredictable character. In order to do that, you cannot have the audience get comfortable with him."
"I've said this before, but he is our shark," she continued. "You've got to bring him out with all his complexity in the right moments, otherwise It loses its power. I am absolutely convinced that he is still as terrifying as he is because of that dose-ification."
Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane also chimed in, stating that "there are two movies that are full of Pennywise," and this show aims to "spend a little bit more time on the other forms that Pennywise can take to scare the characters, and you can delve more deeply into the characters."
"You want to portion out Bill. We know the character of Pennywise is there early on," he added. "You hear his voice, you hear the laugh, you see the balloon. Sometimes you see the eyes open up in a place that you wouldn't expect them to open up, so we know he's coming."
"You really just want to ratchet up that anticipation because when we do find him again, and we do use him, it'll be spectacular. And it'll be a lot more brutal than anything you've ever seen in the movie," Kane concluded.
Set in the world of Stephen King's It universe, It: Welcome to Derry is based on King's It novel and expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the feature films It and It Chapter Two.
The cast is led by Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, Rudy Mancuso, and Bill Skarsgård.
The series, from Warner Bros. Television and developed for television by filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti (It, The Flash) and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman), will debut on HBO and also be available to stream on HBO Max. Muschietti will direct four episodes of the nine-episode series.
The first episode of It: Welcome to Derry is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes released weekly leading up to the season finale on December 14.