"29 Neibolt Street" is the fifth episode of the American supernatural horror television series It: Welcome to Derry. The episode was written by co-showrunner Brad Caleb Kane and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.. It was first broadcast on HBO in the United States on November 23, 2025, and also was available on HBO Max on the same date.
The season is set in Derry, Maine in 1962. After the disappearance of a boy, three high school friends get involved in trying to find him, while two Air Force members arrive at the town to command a B-52. In the episode, the kids are shocked when an alive Matty returns, and they get him to take him to the location where he was imprisoned. Meanwhile, Shaw gets Leroy and Fuller to lead a raid into Neibolt Street to find the 13 pillars.
The episode received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, production values and Skarsgård's return as Pennywise.
Plot
Recovering in the hospital, Marge apologizes to Lilly for her treatment and not believing her. When she returns with Ronnie, Will and Rich to discuss their next move, they find someone in a tent. They are shocked to discover that it is Matty, alive. He states that he was in the sewers, kept prisoner by a clown, and escaped while the clown slept. He also confirms Teddy and Susie died, but Phil might still be there.
With the information that Dick Hallorann retrieved, Shaw instructs Leroy and Fuller to supervise an operation in the house in Neibolt Street, where they should find the 13 pillars. Despite Rose's protests, they intend to use Taniel as a guide to the sewers. Descending into the sewers, Hallorann submerges in the water, and finds himself into a bathroom with his grandparents. Their conversations reveal that Hallorann keeps a box, and his grandfather mocks him to open it. During this, some soldiers are killed by a spirit, while Taniel escapes from Fuller's watch but drops the pillar Rose gave to him in the process. Leroy and Pauly are taunted by a presence that takes the form of Charlotte, and they agree to shoot anything that seems out of the place.
Lilly, Ronnie, Will, Rich, Marge and Matty enter the sewers, taking some of Lilly's mother's pills for anxiety. As they reach a dead-on, they are shocked to discover the corpses of Teddy, Susie and Phil. Matty begins to sing, when they find Matty's real corpse in the water. The entity then transforms into a clown, Pennywise, and chases the kids through the sewers. The kids cross paths with Leroy and Pauly, but Leroy believes this to be another presence. He shoots at Will, but Pauly steps in front of him and is severely wounded. Pauly asks Leroy to "make it count", before succumbing to his wound.
Lilly gets lost in the sewer, and is confronted by Pennywise, who takes her father's form. However, an orange light flickers in the water, forcing Pennywise to retreat. Lilly inspects the light, finding that it is the pillar Taniel dropped. Hank is transported to Shawshank State Prison, but when the bus crashes, he seizes the opportunity to escape. He convinces Ingrid, the woman with whom he had an affair, in helping him hide. Hallorann emerges from the sewers, and is shocked to see a dead Pauly walking, revealing that the box has been opened.
Production
Development
The episode was written by co-showrunner Brad Caleb Kane and directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.. It marked Kane's first writing credit, and Osei-Kuffour Jr.'s first directing credit.[1]
The episode features the return of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, having portrayed him in the films.[2] Previously, executive producer Andy Muschietti said that the crew used a "less is more" mentality to justify his absence, "The idea behind the delayed appearance is the build up of expectation. The audience doesn't know that they want it, but I think it creates a very special feeling. When and where the clown is going to appear was a game that I wanted to play with the audience."[3]
Co-showrunner Jason Fuchs says that they had to properly know when Pennywise would be back, as they established he would not be seen in the beginning, "a huge part of the creative process was, 'When do we introduce this character in the context of this story?' It really was a function, ultimately, of the story and the characters dictating it."[4] Executive producer Barbara Muschietti compared him to the shark's presence in Jaws, "You don't want to have him on screen too much, because familiarity is the enemy. Pennywise is all about unpredictability, and if people get too comfortable with him, then It loses its power."[5]
Fuchs also revealed that the episode's twist, wherein Matty is actually dead and actually serving as a vessel for Pennywise, was actually intended to happen in It Chapter Two. It revolved around Mike Hanlon leading the protagonists to the sewers, where he exposes himself as Pennywise. The idea was scrapped as it deviated heavily from the novel, but they revisited it for the series, "I remember us talking and going, 'Wait, this is an idea that might actually have found its time and its moment.' Matty as the guide, Matty in that context, makes a lot more sense."[6]
Reception
Viewers
Critical reviews
"29 Neibolt Street" earned positive reviews from critics. Tom Jorgensen of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8 out of 10 rating and wrote in his verdict, "“29 Neibolt Street” sends its characters into the sewers beneath Derry, and Bill Skarsgård floats with ease right back into his most iconic role to date to greet (and eat) them throughout the episode's strong second half. IT: Welcome to Derry is signaling more and more that it's heading towards a climax that will lean on remixed King mythology to escalate the terror, and though not all that setup is clicking in at this point, there are more than enough intriguing loose threads highlighted here for the last three episodes to tie together into something that both honors and iterates on Pennywise's history in Derry."[7]
Louis Peitzman of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "It took a minute (four hour-long episodes, to be exact), but it finally feels like Welcome to Derry is going somewhere. It's not just the arrival of Pennywise in his familiar clown form — though it is a relief to see him after all the heavy teasing. It's more the sense that the storylines are coming together in a way that gives the plot forward momentum."[8] Shawn Van Horn of Collider gave the episode a 8 out of 10 rating and wrote, "Dick Hallorann had a shadowy encounter with it in the third episode, and we got a faraway shot in Episode 4, but now the moment you've been waiting for has arrived. Pennwyise is here, and no one is safe."[9]
Eric Francisco of Esquire wrote, ""Neibolt Street" isn't a blockbuster episode, even if it marks the official return of Skarsgård's Pennywise. But it's brimming with interesting odds and ends."[10] Chris Gallardo of Telltale TV gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "It: Welcome to Derry Season 1 Episode 5 is a true welcome for Pennywise's grand return all while finally connecting the storylines together in a satisfying, if stuffed, way. With its conclusion presenting huge questions about Hallorann's powers and the MacGuffin to stop IT, these last three episodes hold much more potential now."[11]
Sean T. Collins of The New York Times wrote, "As much as Gen. Shaw wants to believe otherwise, sending fully armed troops rolling down American streets to storm houses is a cure worse than any disease it purports to treat. Some problems can't be fixed with boots and guns. If you try, you'll only hurt the country you're claiming to save."[12] Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant wrote, "Thanks to its lame-duck CGI, It: Welcome to Derry still isn't very scary but, while it doesn't really work as a horror show, it does work as a straightforward drama. From Lilly and Marge's heartwarming reunion to Hallorann's harrowing flashback to his abusive dad, there's a lot of great character work in this episode. I'd rather watch a horror show with compelling characters and very few genuine scares than a horror show with plenty of scares but painfully one-dimensional characters."[13]
In a negative review, William Hughes of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "C–" grade and wrote, "Outside of a typically good performance from Chris Chalk (who literally gets sucked into a whole different TV show for the back half of this installment), this is Welcome To Derry at its least thoughtful, and, consequently, its least scary. The best you can hope for through most of this is to enjoy the camp, and that's a real waste of what Welcome To Derry can do."[14]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
