IT: Welcome to Derry Introduces the First Version of the Losers Club (And They Need Their Own Movie)

IT: Welcome to Derry primarily anchors its narrative in 1962, positioning itself exactly 27 years before the harrowing events depicted in the first IT film. This setting grants the prequel series a unique opportunity to investigate Pennywise’s cycle of terror, illustrating how a previous generation struggled against the cosmic entity. At the same time, IT: Welcome to Derry also demonstrates a willingness to reach much further back into the timeline. Through glimpses of events in 1935 and 1908, the series constructs a broader tapestry of horror that predates the modern era. The most recent episode, however, transports the audience further back than the franchise has ever ventured, unveiling the ancient origins of the Pennywise creature while introducing a group of heroes who represent the very first iteration of the Losers’ Club.

Warning: Spoilers below for IT: Welcome to Derry, Episode 4

The fourth episode of IT: Welcome to Derry retells a legend passed down through generations of the Shokopiwah tribe. According to their history, the being known as Pennywise crashed into the region millions of years ago, encased within a meteor that functioned as a cosmic prison. The impact shattered this containment and released the predator, but the creature remained severely weakened by its long confinement. The Shokopiwah, who named the monster the “Galloo,” learned to survive by simply avoiding its den. Unfortunately, when European colonizers arrived, they ignored the tribe’s warnings and ventured into the woods, providing the creature with its first substantial meal in centuries and restoring its strength.

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Faced with a newly empowered entity capable of moving beyond the Western Woods, the Shokopiwah felt hopeless until the tribe’s youth took action. A group of young Shokopiwah warriors, comprised of children and teenagers, armed themselves with a knife forged from the meteor itself, capable of warding off Pennywise. They bravely entered the Galloo’s lair and used fragments of its original meteor prison to construct a magical cage around its territory, which the Shokopiwah still protect many centuries later. This act establishes a powerful thematic echo that reverberates through the franchise. Just as Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Martell) and his friends stood against Pennywise in 1989, and a new group of children are currently uniting in 1962, IT: Welcome to Derry posits that the defiance of youth is the only effective countermeasure against Pennywise’s ancient evil.

The Native Children of Derry Deserve Their Own Story

The inclusion of the Shokopiwah tribe marks a significant narrative improvement over the clumsy handling of indigenous history in IT Chapter Two. That film attempted to integrate the concept of the Ritual of Chüd through the indigenous people of Derry, but failed to give the Native source of that knowledge any meaningful agency. The prequel series corrects this oversight by positioning the tribe as the true keepers of the entity’s secrets and the architects of its imprisonment. Despite this step forward, the execution of the flashback sequence still serves the plot more than the characters. The young warriors who challenge the Galloo are presented as a homogeneous unit. The audience witnesses their bravery and their tactical brilliance in constructing the cage, yet the script denies them the personal depth routinely afforded to the protagonists of the 1960s or 1980s.

By keeping the first Losers’ Club anonymous, IT: Welcome to Derry misses the opportunity to explore the interpersonal dynamics that make Stephen King’s stories resonate. A feature-length film dedicated to this specific era would allow for a proper exploration of these relationships. Audiences deserve to know who these children were, how they dedicated themselves to face Pennywise, and what specific personal sacrifices they made to protect their people. Expanding this flashback into a full narrative would not only enrich the mythology of the creature but also give the indigenous heroes who first defeated the cosmic horror the spotlight they deserve. Since IT: Welcome to Derry and the movies have decided to change Stephen King’s lore by adding the fictional Shokopiwah tribe, it’s only fair they get protagonism at some point.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere on HBO every Sunday.

Would you watch a standalone movie focused entirely on the Shokopiwah tribe’s first battle against the Galloo? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!