Welcome to Derry’s Post-Credits Scene With IT Movie Actors Was a Last-Minute Addition (& Why It Happened)

IT: Welcome to Derry‘s Season 1 finale not only set up the future of the show, but also had some major connections to the IT movies as well. Welcome to Derry‘s timeline puts it 27 years before IT (the films changed the setting of Stephen King’s book, moving the kids’ story from the 1950s to the late 80s), so it was always expected we’d see some interconnectivity. That was particularly true given Will Hanlon is the father of Losers Club member Mike, but Season 1, Episode 8 took things a lot further. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for the Welcome to Derry Season 1 finale.

IT: Welcome to Derry‘s Season 1 ending also confirmed that Marge Truman is the mother of Richie Tozier, with Pennywise essentially able to see the future to reveal this information to her. But that wasn’t the end of it. Just after the episode ended and faded to black, a stinger started to play with Mrs. Kersh, portrayed by Joan Gregson (who played her in IT: Chapter Two) in 1988, just a few months before the events of IT. She makes her way into a room where another patient, Elfrida Marsh, has taken their own life, and a young girl sobs in front of the body – revealed to be Beverly Marsh, once again played by Sophia Lillis.

Lillis’ cameo as Bev was a real shocker, coming six years after she last appeared in the role. And as it turns out, this wasn’t something that was always in the script. Speaking to Variety, co-creator Andy Muschietti revealed it was only thought of during reshoots, with Barbara Muschietti adding it was shot in April 2025 (original filming started in May 2023, and was completed in August 2024 after the strikes). There were also initial hopes for something even bigger, but those plans changed, as Andy explained:

“I had a notion of what the show was going to look like, but I still wanted a visual connection to the characters from the movies. I had an idea for a four-scene epilogue, but it was a little too ambitious, so we condensed it to one scene with just one of the Losers. We always joke that Sophia Lillis always looks the same. She looked 14 when she was 14 and now that she’s 24, she still looks 14, so we could bring her back without having to de-age her. We also brought back the actress who plays the elderly Ingrid Kersh, Joan Gregson, in It: Chapter 2.”

The Meaning Of Beverly Marsh & Mrs. Kersh’s Welcome to Derry Cameos

The scene between Bev and Kersh is a new addition to canon, and one that recontextualizes IT: Chapter Two – intentionally so. It adds a whole new layer to the meeting between the pair from that movie, explaining exactly why IT took the form of Mrs. Kersh in that scene, with Andy Muschietti describing the opportunity to do it as the “perfect connection” given the Juniper Hill setting that Ingrid Kersh was left in. Showrunner Jason Fuchs further elaborated on this, saying:

“What I love about that scene is that it does change your understanding of Beverly’s encounter with It’s manifestation of Mrs. Kersh in It: Chapter 2. I was lucky enough to work on that scene and, at the time, I imagined that It was taking the guise of Pennywise’s daughter in order to prey on Beverly’s traumatic relationship with her own father. It did not, then, occur to me that Beverly Marsh had ever met the real Mrs. Kersh.

“But now, you go back and rewatch that scene and you realize It was up to something else. It knows that Beverly actually met Mrs. Kersh at least once and it was on the worst day of her life, the day her mother committed suicide. So, when It takes that form, it’s also a way of tapping into a long buried memory that’s intertwined with the most horrific moment, to that point, of Beverly’s young life. And that’s the day, the moment, we get to see at the end of our season.”

This highlights just how horrifying a monster Pennywise is, and how expertly he draws on people’s fears, even if they’re more subconscious. But what it also does is draw a clearer parallel between Bev and Lilly, who fulfill a similar role in Welcome to Derry‘s narrative. The two have a few things in common: they are young girls who are outcasts, who tragically lost a parent, and who not only had to confront Pennywise, but also had haunting encounters with Mrs. Kersh at different stages of her life, and the return of Lillis as Bev and Gregson as Kersh just underscores that.

This also marked Gregson’s final role, as the actress passed away in June 2025 at the age of 92. The coda only adds to her legacy, and it’s nice that IT fans got to see her one last time, and understand so much more about her role. Speaking with EW, Barbara Muschietti said:

“She was 91 when we shot. She was hilarious and so talented and just so game for it. She had the most incredible life. She was a theater actor for most of her life. It was such an honor to be able to get her back. She was very happy to be there.”

All episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry Season 1 are now streaming on HBO Max, as are the two IT movies.

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