IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Ending Explained: Who Survived in the Cinema?

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Ending Explained: The first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, titled “The Pilot”, opens the prequel to Stephen King’s universe with a story set in the 60s that serves as an introduction to the curse of the people and the power that will later take the form of the feared clown Pennywise. Andy Muschietti returns to a darker, more psychological, and much crueler tone than in the movies, marking from the beginning that Derry is, above all, a rotten place from its foundations. If you thought the first chapter wouldn’t be so terrifying or bloody, you’re completely wrong about what you should expect from “IT: Welcome to Derry“. Well, we are talking about the same platform that has “House of the Dragon” and “The Last of Us“. Set in 1962, decades before the events of the Losers Club, the prequel to “It” wasted no time in showing the horror that lurks in the town of Maine. From its first episode, the story makes it clear that Pennywise is back… and that nobody is safe.

If episode 1 of IT: Welcome to Derry is just an appetizer of what season 1 has in store, it’s better to buckle up. The HBO prequel series, based on the novel by Stephen King, more specifically in the interludes, presents a group of children in the style of the Losers’ Club, who evil has in its sights. Set in 1962, IT: Welcome to Derry, it begins quite placidly with a boy named Matty in the movies (Miles Ekhardt). So far, everything is normal, but the courtroom conductor begins to chase him for sneaking in, which is not the first time he has done so. In any case, the owner of the cinema does not take the kid into account, knowing that at home he has a complicated outlook. What’s more, the owner’s daughter, who will later be important in the story, helps him escape by stating that he had gone in another direction.

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Ending Explained: Who Survived in the Cinema?

Already outside the cinema, on a dog night with plenty of snow and cold, Matty walks down the road waiting for someone to take him. After several cars that don’t stop, he is made into a seemingly idyllic and charming family, offering to take him home and even giving him a blanket. However, everything starts to get very strange when the daughter of this family takes out a Tupperware with raw liver and starts smelling it; The son keeps spelling words, and both parents start saying macabre things. All this as a prelude to a scene of horrifying body horror, when the pregnant mother begins to give birth in the car. This in itself may not be strange, but when a demonic-looking baby comes out of her, you know it’s not going to end well.

Terrified by the situation and unable to get out of the car, Matty can do nothing but cover his ears to escape the terror he is witnessing. Finally, from a shot from outside the car, you can see how, through the car window, the pacifier that Matty was carrying shoots out. It is assumed that this baby-shaped demonic entity attacks him, but it is unknown if it kills him or not.

What is clear in these first bars of episode 1 of IT is that the Pennywise horror cycle has started in Derry. The demon does not appear in his clown form in this chapter, but he is behind the family going crazy, or it is simply an illusion he causes.

The New Losers Club?

After the sinister scene with Matty as the protagonist, the other young characters in the story are introduced. Apparently, they are the ones who make up that kind of Losers Club from the previous two movies and in King’s book. As with these, these boys and girls are characterized by having certain problems and traumas that Pennywise is responsible for exploiting. First of all, there is Lilly (Clara Stack), traumatized by the recent death of her father, and who is bullied at school. It turns out that his father died while working at the canning factory, taking advantage of his classmates to bully him with it. This is the first sign that in Derry, there is not only one monster, but many, since you have to be rotten inside for someone in their right mind to make fun of a girl after what she has suffered. Almost at the same time, Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler) and Phil (Jack Molloy Legault), the latter obsessed with aliens, are introduced into the plot. Especially the first one, he continues to think about Matty’s disappearance four months later, feeling guilty for not having been a best friend.

Pennywise Lurks

Turns out all the young characters had had previous contact with Matty; they knew him. Therefore, it is not strange that things start happening to them from Pennywise that make their hair stand on end. The first to suffer it is Lilly, who, through the bathtub drain, thinks she hears Matty’s voice and later sees some fingers appear through it.

Since her best friend doesn’t believe her, Lilly goes to Teddy and Phil, both of whom are completely skeptical, until it happens to them. Presumably, that same night, Teddy is scared to death when talking faces appear on the lamp in his room. All of this arises from something his father tells him at dinner about how the skin of Jewish prisoners was used to make lampshades. As a result of that moment, Pennywise takes advantage of Teddy’s weakness to scare him.

Now, of course, Teddy believes Lilly, just like Phil does, so the three begin to investigate Matty’s disappearance. This brings them to Ronnie (Amanda Christine), daughter of the cinema owner, who says that in the basement of the cinema, she has also heard children’s voices through the pipes singing a song from the movie Matty saw the day he disappeared.

It’s Not Just The Younger Ones Who Have Problems In Derry

To all this, in episode 1 of IT: Welcome to Derry, the focus is also on an aviator who arrives at the town’s military base, Commander Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo). As soon as he lands, he realizes that there is a racist sergeant among the group of aviation mechanics, so he calls him to order. Leroy is there to test a new type of aircraft, but he soon begins to suffer the Derry effect. In principle, this is not related to Pennywise, but one night, when Leroy is in his bed, a group of men wearing gas masks attacks him in his barracks room. They want technical details of the new plane, although he refuses to give them to them, even at the risk of being shot. Thank goodness his friend Pauly (Rudy Mancuso) appears in time, managing to get rid of the attackers. Maybe the attackers were led by that sergeant Leroy had the problem with earlier, or were dealing with something else; It will be seen with the progress of the episodes.

The Ending of Episode 1 of IT: Welcome to Derry is Terrifying

Once with the boys at the cinema watching the movie in question, and see if they can get anything clear about Matty’s disappearance, all hell breaks loose. In a sequence of the film, they see how Matty appears on screen carrying a baby in his arms. Everyone encourages him to head towards them, although without understanding what is happening, as it is technically impossible. At one point, Matty tells everyone that they betrayed him, knowing that they lied to him on many occasions. Once the boy makes the iconic face with Pennywise’s smile, you know who is behind it all; the demonic baby also leaves the screen. The creature attacks everyone, a massacre from which only Lilly and Ronnie manage to save themselves, the two of them being the ones who are supposed to continue the investigation of what is happening in Derry.

Very Normal Family – Complete Breakdown, Deep Analysis & Episode Review of IT: Welcome to Derry

IT: Welcome to Derry begins its chilling expansion of Stephen King’s legendary universe with a premiere episode that mixes psychological horror, 1960s Cold War tension, and a brutal new origin for Derry’s nightmare. This detailed guide explores every layer of the series opener, breaking down the plot, symbolism, themes, characters, and connections to the greater It mythos—offering the depth, cohesion, and clarity readers expect when searching for a complete breakdown.

The Haunting Opening: A Journey Into 1962 Derry

The episode launches in January 1962 with an unsettling introduction to young Matty Clements, a nervous boy who still uses a pacifier to ease his anxiety. Sneaking into a Derry cinema to watch Live on Illusion, he is quickly pulled into a nightmare that sets the tone for the series.

Outside the theater, Matty hitchhikes with a seemingly perfect all-American family—smiling, wholesome, and cheerful. But as they drive, Matty senses something horrifically wrong beneath their polished exterior.

• The youngest boy spells disturbing words like “corpse” and “strangulation.”
• The radio broadcasts nuclear test warnings and mutation fears.
• The older sister smears her fingers with liver and taunts him with grotesque delight.

Soon, it becomes clear they are not driving toward Portland, but back to Derry, and this revelation births a sequence that cements the episode as one of the most terrifying premieres in recent memory.

The “mother” goes into convulsions—delivering not a baby, but a winged, deformed demon, a creature dripping with gore, twitching with hunger and malice, still attached by a grotesque umbilical cord. In minutes, the car becomes a slaughterhouse, and Matty’s pacifier becomes the last remnant of his existence, washing into the sewers—Derry’s mouth of doom.

This opening not only establishes the horrors of the show but hints heavily at Pennywise’s ancient cycle of awakening.

The New “Losers Club”: Trauma, Disappearance & Childhood Fear

Three months after Matty’s disappearance, the show introduces a new group of outcasts whose lives orbit mystery, trauma, and fear.

Teddy & Phil: A Friendship Anchored in Mystery

• Teddy, raised in an Orthodox Jewish household, remains deeply unsettled by Matty’s disappearance.
• Phil is obsessed with aliens, military secrets, and conspiracy theories, constantly connecting Derry’s darkness to shadow operations and extraterrestrial phenomena.

The boys balance innocence with suspicion—a pair mirroring the classic dynamics of King’s iconic Losers Club, but with new emotional textures.

Lilly: Grief, Isolation & Psychological Unraveling

Lilly becomes the emotional core of the children’s storyline.

• Bullied cruelly at school.
• Haunted by guilt for her father’s death in a pickle factory accident.
• Tormented by phantom whispers from Matty through bathroom pipes.

Her past connection with Matty, spotlighted in a New Year’s Eve flashback, reveals a tender bond between two traumatized children. Their near-kiss is cut short by fear, leaving the moment suspended in unresolved innocence and sorrow.

Marge: Loyalty and Quiet Strength

Despite her own struggles—oversized glasses and constant bullying—Marge stands as Lilly’s only consistent ally. Her presence provides warmth in an episode otherwise drowning in dread.

An Uneasy Military Subplot: The B-52 Program & Derry’s Hidden History

Parallel to the children’s narrative is the arrival of two Air Force officers:

• Captain Pauly Russo
• Leroy Hanlon, likely the grandfather of Mike Hanlon from the original It novel.

Hanlon’s involvement in classified B-52 bomber testing implies a deeper connection between Derry and Cold War geopolitics. The subplot escalates when masked attackers beat Hanlon in his quarters, demanding restricted military information.

This storyline, though mysterious now, feels poised to reveal a government link to Derry’s supernatural history, aligning with King’s hints of Pennywise’s extraterrestrial, extradimensional origins.

Private Screening from Hell: The Film That Shows the Truth

Determined to uncover the truth, Lilly persuades her friends to investigate Matty’s last known movements. They visit Ronnie, the projector’s daughter from the theater, who admits he has also heard the haunting tune from Live on Illusion.

The group gathers for a private screening of the film—and what unfolds becomes one of the most disturbing sequences in the episode.

Onscreen, Matty appears—alive, cradling what looks like a baby. But when the children call out to him, the illusion cracks.

Matty hurls the infant toward the camera, revealing the same demonic newborn that slaughtered the family earlier. The creature tears its way out of the film and into the theater, launching a bloodbath that leaves only Lilly and Ronnie alive.

The moment Lilly realizes she is holding the severed hand of Phil’s little sister, Susie marks the most devastating emotional peak of the episode.

Aesthetic Excellence & Unmatched Atmosphere

The episode excels visually:

• Immaculate 1960s setting
• Authentic hairstyles, cars, home décor
• Warm but eerie color grading
• Cinematic tension reminiscent of Muschietti’s films

The production value rivals premium HBO originals, grounding supernatural horror in rich period detail.

Strengths, Weaknesses & Overall Impact

✅ What the Episode Gets Right

• Terrifying, original creature design
• Bold willingness to kill child characters early
• Strong emotional roots in trauma and memory
• Connections to the larger It universe without overexposing Pennywise
• Atmospheric, cinematic production quality

❗ Where It Falters

• Storylines feel loosely connected, lacking full cohesion
• Character development for the new “Losers Club” ends abruptly due to early deaths
• Some dialogues fall short of King’s memorable style
• The pacing between plots sometimes feels uneven

Does the Episode Expand the It Mythos Successfully?

The premiere strongly suggests a deeper exploration of:

• Pennywise’s extraterrestrial origins
• Cold War paranoia fueling Derry’s darkness
• The intergenerational trauma linking Hanlon’s family to the creature
• The early cycles of Pennywise’s feeding rituals

If the series continues to intertwine these threads, IT: Welcome to Derry could become one of the most ambitious Stephen King adaptations in decades.

Conclusion: A Brutal, Visually Stunning Start With Massive Potential

The premiere of IT: Welcome to Derry delivers visceral horror, emotional depth, and a fresh perspective on Derry’s cursed history. While structural cohesion remains uneven, the chilling atmosphere, high production standards, and bold storytelling choices promise a powerful season ahead.

Fans of Stephen King, horror cinema, and psychological thrillers will find this episode both fascinating and deeply disturbing—a worthy expansion of King’s legendary universe.