Warning: There are spoilers forward for episode 5 of IT: Welcome to Derry.The huge Pennywise twist in IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5 was initially going for use to kill a member of the Losers Membership in IT Chapter Two. Welcome to Derry episode 5 options the return of Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt), who seemingly died within the collection premiere.
In episode 5, Matty claims to have escaped It, and after revealing that Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) should be alive within the sewers, Welcome to Derry‘s younger characters head down there to avoid wasting their good friend. Within the sewers, they see Matty rework into Its type as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, revealing that the evil entity was pretending to be Matty all through all the episode.
Whereas talking with Decider about episode 5, co-creator and co-showrunner Jason Fuchs reveals that this twist was nearly used to kill Mike Hanlon in IT Chapter Two. He explains {that a} model of the script had Mike main the Losers Membership into the sewers, just for them to find Mike’s corpse there, and understand that It had been taking up the type of Mike all through all the film. Take a look at Fuchs’ feedback beneath:
So after I was engaged on IT Chapter Two, there was a model of that script the place Mike Hanlon — who has clearly been guiding our grownup Losers all the time — finally takes them down into the sewers, takes them down into It’s sanctuary, the place they discover Mike Hanlon’s physique. And also you understand that the Mike Hanlon we had been with the entire journey of IT Chapter Two was a manifestation of It.
Fuchs, together with Andy and Barbara Muschietti, finally determined to scrap the concept since Mike survives within the supply materials, and altering his destiny would have been an excessive amount of of a divergence from Stephen King’s novel. When growing Welcome to Derry, they realized that episode 5’s Pennywise twist was the proper place to revive the idea.
We thought, “Oh, it’s simply an excessive amount of of a departure from the ebook. We need to be nearer to the place the story beats.” And in order that went away. Then after we began speaking in regards to the journey of the present, and particularly Episode 5, I keep in mind us speaking and going, “Wait, that is an concept which may even have discovered its time and its second.” Matty because the information, Matty in that context, makes much more sense.
Fuchs went on to clarify that Welcome to Derry permits for “riskier swings” than IT Chapter Two did. Whereas the prequel collection is predicated on the novel’s interlude chapters, there may be much less to instantly adapt. This opens the door for extra inventive freedom and with the ability to do issues which are actually new, together with the Matty and Pennywise twist.
You’ve gotten extra alternatives to take riskier swings. You’ve gotten the chance to take departures that you just couldn’t within the movies as a result of all of it actually is contemporary. Now we’re utilizing items of the ebook, however then extrapolating and type of inventing from there. In order that second was a very long time coming, and it was very cool to see it actual.
Killing Mike in IT Chapter Two and having It manipulate the Losers Membership along with his look would have been a serious change, and one which possible would have been controversial amongst followers of the King novel. Whereas Welcome to Derry offers this destiny to Matty as a substitute, younger Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), who will sooner or later be Mike’s father, is current for the terrifying second.
As IT: Welcome to Derry continues, the collection has the potential to borrow extra unused concepts from IT and IT Chapter Two, so long as they meaningfully serve the prequel’s story. Some main occasions and character fates are already recognized due to the prevailing canon, however as Fuchs signifies, there are many unknowns to experiment with in future episodes.