Pennywise the Dancing Clown is returning to terrorize the sleepy town of Derry, Maine in the upcoming HBO series IT: Welcome to Derry, and viewers have already been given a glimpse at the latest form he will take on. A new collection of Funko POPs from the series has been unveiled (via Funko POP News! on Twitter/X), which shows two standard Pennywise designs alongside the character Bob Grey. This ties directly into the history of Pennywise as a monstrous presence in Derry, as revealed in 2019’s IT: Chapter Two.
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In IT: Chapter Two, the adult Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain) meets the elderly Mrs. Kersh (Joan Gregson), who lives in the apartment formerly occupied by Beverly and her father, while trying to find a trinket to use in the Ritual of Chüd in order to destroy Pennywise. Beverly also sees a photograph of a Bob Grey, a circus performer and Mrs. Kersh’s supposed father, which Beverly quickly comes to realize is actually Pennywise in another disguised form, before being chased out of the house by Mrs. Kersh, herself revealed as a disguised Pennywise.
The fact that Bob Grey has been given his own Funko POP heavily indicates that Welcome to Derry will build significantly upon his brief cameo in IT: Chapter Two, which saw a terrified Beverly seeing Bob Grey transform into a more clown-like appearance before her eyes. Bob might not be the only alternate form Pennywise takes either, with the Funko POPs also including a character named Skeleton Man, whose mouthful of razor-sharp teeth certainly resembles the carnivorous mandibles of Pennywise.
IT: Welcome to Derry serves as a prequel to Andy Muschietti’s IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, the two films adapted from Stephen King’s eponymous novel. IT: Chapter One focuses on a collection of kids known as “The Losers Club” who encounter the supernatural creature Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) over summer break in 1989 and fight to destroy the monster. IT: Chapter Two focuses on the Losers re-uniting in 2016 as adults after Pennywise inexplicably returns to Derry, with the friends joining forces to permanently defeat him.
IT: Welcome to Derry will focus upon Pennywise’s long history in Derry before meeting the Losers, with the series set in 1962 and Pennywise (played by the returning Bill Skarsgård) up to his old ways of preying upon and devouring the children of Derry. Welcome to Derry has multiple seasons planned already, which will reportedly stretch back even further into the 20th century. Moreover, Welcome to Derry also ties into the larger Stephen King universe, with Chris Chalk portraying The Shining character Dick Hallorann (who has a role in the story in King’s IT novel), one of numerous ways in which Welcome to Derry could be establishing a Stephen King shared universe.
With the Welcome to Derry Funko POPs revealing the return of Pennywise’s Bob Grey form, the series seems set to heavily utilize Peynnwise’s shape-shifting abilities. The Losers know better than anyone about Pennywise’s ability to take on the likeness of any person in order to lure his prey into a trap. With Bob Grey’s return for IT: Welcome to Derry, its seems like viewers could see that ruthless tactic put to even more extensive and terrifying use by the relentless monster that is Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
IT: Welcome to Derry will debut on HBO in October.
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Image courtesy of Netflix
