The Pilot (It: Welcome to Derry)

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"The Pilot"
It: Welcome to Derry episode
Episode no.Episode 1
Directed by Andy Muschietti
Written by Jason Fuchs
Featured music
Cinematography byDaniel Vilar
Editing byEsther Sokolow
Original air dateOctober 26, 2025 (2025-10-26)
Running time53 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"The Thing in the Dark"

"The Pilot" is the series premiere of the American supernatural horror television series It: Welcome to Derry . The episode was written by series developer Jason Fuchs, and directed by executive producer Andy Muschietti. It was first broadcast on HBO in the United States on October 26, 2025, and also was available on HBO Max on the same date.

Contents

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.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.334 million household viewers and gained a 0.10 ratings share among adults aged 18–49. The series premiere received a mostly positive response from critics, who praised its production values, atmosphere, opening sequence, and twist ending, although some were divided over the over-abundance of characters.

Plot

On January 4, 1962 in Derry, Maine, a young boy named Matty Clements escapes from a movie theater after the usher catches him without a ticket. On the outskirts of the city, he is picked up by a family. The father and mother ask Matty where they should drop him off, to where Matty replies, "Anywhere but Derry." However, he notes the family's strange behavior, and is further confused when they re-enter Derry. The wife suddenly gives birth to a monstrous winged baby, who charges at Matty.

Four months later, Air Force and Korean War veterans Captain Pauly Russo and Major Leroy Hanlon arrive at the Derry Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command base. General Shaw has assigned Leroy to pilot a B-52, although Leroy experiences racial discrimination from Masters, one of his airmen. Back at the local high school, Teddy Uris remains haunted over Matty's disappearance, while his friend Phil Malkin tries to get Teddy to move on. Lilly Bainbridge, a friend of Matty's, is still mourning the loss of her father, who died tragically in a factory accident one year prior. While preparing to take a bath at her house, Lilly is shocked to hear Matty's voice coming from the drain of the bathtub, specifically singing "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man, the film that Matty snuck into the night of his disappearance. When she shares this with Teddy and Phil, they struggle to believe it.

Later that night, Teddy has Shabbat dinner with his family and asks his father about the possibility of children being held underground for a long period of time. His father then discusses Teddy's grandparents escape from the Buchenwald concentration camp, where the rest of their families died, and atrocities that included making lamp shades out of human skin. Before bed, Teddy's lampshade begins malfunctioning, and eventually shows many human faces to scare him.

The following day, Teddy, Phil and Lilly investigate Matty's disappearance at the local library. They read in a news article that Matty was last seen with a girl named Veronica "Ronnie" Grogan. When the kids show up outside Ronnie's house to ask for help, Ronnie initially rejects to assist them, but then changes her mind when Lilly brings up that she heard Matty singing through the pipes. Ronnie claims to have heard voices as well. Back at the Air Command base, Leroy is attacked in his bed by three masked men, who demand the specifications to pilot the B-52. He refuses to leak the information and fights back with the help of Pauly, who enters the bedroom in the middle of the fight. The masked men eventually leave the room in a hurry.

Teddy, Phil, Lilly, Ronnie and Phil's sister Susie sneak into the movie theater, where Ronnie projects The Music Man. They recognize the song, and are surprised to see Matty in the film. Matty speaks directly to them, blaming them for his situation before unleashing the winged baby at them. The creature grows and kills Teddy, Phil and Susie. Ronnie barely manages to get Lilly out of the screening, and Lilly screams in horror once she realizes she's carrying Susie's severed hand.

Production

Development

Andy Muschietti, director of the films, returned to direct the episode. Andres Muschietti.jpg
Andy Muschietti, director of the films, returned to direct the episode.

The episode was written by series developer Jason Fuchs, and directed by executive producer Andy Muschietti. [1]

Writing

Despite Bill Skarsgård confirmed to reprise his role as Pennywise, he does not make an appearance in the episode. Fuchs said that for this and to convince him to reprise the role, they needed new versions of the character, "We knew that we had to create something special just to have Bill come back and play Pennywise, we had to give Pennywise new dimensions. We had to integrate him in a story that felt fitting to this new younger Pennywise. We wanted to show how Pennywise became, or took on the avatar of Pennywise." [2] Muschietti also 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]

The episode ends with Pennywise using its powers to kill Teddy, Phil and Susie. Muschietti said that this was done to prove that "in this world, no one will be safe." [4] Barbara Muschietti also added, "It was important for us to tell a very unpredictable story, because we couldn't repeat the movies. We needed the kids, because there's no It without kids, and we needed them to become friends and fight this monster together. But we needed to subvert the story somehow." [5]

Filming

The opening sequence followed Matty picked up by a family, when a woman gives birth to a winged creature that attacks him. Muschietti commented on the scene's inclusion, "We knew we needed to catch the audience's attention, and establish a world where nothing is safe. We needed a big inciting event and the disappearance of Matty is how we started putting the pieces together." [6] Daryl Sawchuk, the series' VFX supervisor, commented, "We had a lot of fantastic practical goo and blood and all sorts of stuff that we used as a starting point and then expanded upon when we got into post." [7]

Reception

Viewers

In its original American broadcast, "The Pilot" was seen by an estimated 0.334 million household viewers with a 0.10 in the 18–49 demographics. This means that 0.10 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode. [8]

Critical reviews

"The Pilot" earned mostly positive reviews from critics. Tom Jorgensen of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8 out of 10 rating and wrote in his verdict, "IT: Welcome to Derry's premiere makes you feel right at home in America's worst small town. The first episode accomplishes its most important task of re-establishing Derry and Pennywise with style and some expertly-drawn out tension, though some of the more CG-heavy scares fall flat. Indirectly honoring a popular critique of the novel, the kids' side of the story is (so far) way more compelling than the adults', but Pennywise has barely begun to poke his red-tufted head out of the sewer, so there's plenty of time for that storyline to start floating. We all float down here, after all." [9]

William Hughes of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "C" grade and wrote, "If Welcome To Derry is going to be something more than “IT in eight episodes instead of two movies”—and there is some suggestion, with that ruthless ending, that that's the intended goal — it's going to need a level of focus that's lacking here. As is, we've got some effective scares, but acting, and especially writing, that can't live up to the series' pedigree." [10]

Louis Peitzman of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "With the sudden reveal that most of these kids aren't our heroes after all, Welcome to Derry delivers a stunning bait and switch. Ronnie and Lilly, the latter still clutching Susie's severed arm, appear to be the only two to make it out of the theater alive." [11]

Meghan McCluskey of TIME wrote, "The final moments of the episode, which was directed by Muschietti, were both gruesome and shocking. They also seemed to signal that whatever Welcome to Derry has up its sleeve in the next seven episodes, the showrunners don't want viewers to feel like they're just getting a rehash of the IT movies — or, maybe more importantly, that they have any idea what's coming next." [12] Shawn Van Horn of Collider gave the episode a 7 out of 10 rating and wrote, "Skarsgård and Muschietti return, but every other actor is new to the nightmare, providing the killer clown with more prey." [13]

Eric Francisco of Esquire wrote, "This is still Derry, Maine as seen in those movies, where a nostalgic Americana hides all of its cruelty beneath a veneer of politeness. Handsome production design and muscular sequences of trauma-inducing terror were the markers of Muschietti's films, and it's thrilling to see more of that in the first episode of Welcome to Derry." [14] Zach Dionne of Decider wrote, "Turns out Welcome to Derry was right to give it a go, because this four-minute sequence is the most disturbing part of the premiere." [15]

Sean T. Collins of The New York Times wrote, "The marvelous thing about this horrifying episode is how little it depends on your knowledge of the source material to convey its message. Welcome to Derry is making a point the movies largely missed: It is about the unique vulnerability of children to violence and hatred. The creative team deserves enormous credit for taking the risk of alienating the audience with material this difficult to watch, made even more difficult by the truly ghastly sound and creature design." [16] Ben Sherlock of Screen Rant wrote, "It: Welcome to Derry's first episode is a mixed bag. It has promising signs of a great horror series — the eerie atmosphere is palpable, the production design brings 1960s Maine to life, and there are some fabulous young actors who all share strong on-screen chemistry — but so far, it's much more It Chapter Two than It Chapter One. It's not very scary, it's not very focused, and I'm not especially inclined to see where it goes next." [17]

References

  1. ↑ "It: Welcome to Derry – WGA Directory". Writers Guild of America West . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  2. ↑ Bryant, Jacob (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome to Derry' Bosses Explain Why Pennywise Is More 'Ravenous' and 'Visceral' in the HBO Drama". TheWrap . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  3. ↑ Hibberd, James (October 24, 2025). "'IT: Welcome to Derry' Creators Clear Up the Big "Misconception" About Pennywise". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  4. ↑ Hibberd, James (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome To Derry' Creators Explain the Premiere's Shocking Ending". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  5. ↑ McGowan, Andrew (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome to Derry' Creators on the Premiere's Shocking (and Disgusting!) Twists and Their Three-Season Plan for Pennywise". Variety . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  6. ↑ Alter, Ethan (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome to Derry' creators break down that gory birth scene: 'They let us go there'". Gold Derby. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  7. ↑ McGowan, Andrew (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome to Derry' Team Breaks Down That Insane Opening: 'A Lot of Fantastic Practical Goo and Blood' Brought the Killer Baby to Life". Variety . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  8. ↑ Pucci, Douglas (October 29, 2025). "Sunday Ratings: 'It: Welcome to Derry' Premieres on HBO". Programming Insider. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  9. ↑ Jorgensen, Tom (October 22, 2025). "IT: Welcome to Derry Season Premiere Review". IGN . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  10. ↑ Hughes, William (October 26, 2025). "IT: Welcome To Derry opens with a great short film but a pretty lousy hour of TV". The A.V. Club . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  11. ↑ Peitzman, Louis (October 26, 2025). "It: Welcome to Derry Series-Premiere Recap: We've Got Trouble". Vulture . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  12. ↑ McCluskey, Meghan (October 26, 2025). "How That Brutal Twist in the IT: Welcome to Derry Premiere Ups the Stakes of the HBO Prequel Series". TIME . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  13. ↑ Van Horn, Shawn (October 26, 2025). "'IT: Welcome to Derry' Premiere Recap: Pennywise Unleashes His Most Gruesome Kill in a Shocking Twist". Collider . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  14. ↑ Francisco, Eric (October 26, 2025). "IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 1 Recap". Esquire . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  15. ↑ Dionne, Zach (October 26, 2025). "'IT: Welcome to Derry' Episode 1 Recap: Ya Got Trouble". Decider . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  16. ↑ Collins, Sean T. (October 26, 2025). "'It: Welcome to Derry' Season 1 Premiere Recap: Nuclear Family". The New York Times . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  17. ↑ Sherlock, Ben (October 26, 2025). "IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1, Episode 1 Review - Stephen King Spinoff Gets Off To A Shaky Start With An Overstuffed Cast & An Unfocused Plot". Screen Rant . Retrieved October 26, 2025.
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