The It franchise is making a comeback on the small screen thanks to HBO Max’s It: Welcome to Derry (2025), which garnered over 5 million views in its first three days. One of the reasons for its massive success is that the series knows how to tap into the true terror of Stephen King’s creation, Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård). Now, I’ll admit, like most viewers, I’ve been impatient for Skarsgård to appear as its most famous form, the dancing clown. However, the show’s decision to wait five episodes for his appearance is actually quite brilliant.
Both its TV format and the decision to keep Pennywise off-screen for a period allow It: Welcome to Derry to explore the character in more depth, including different sides and abilities. The show highlights how Pennywise is a whole lot more powerful than most of us realize, especially because it capitalizes on its terrifying ability to be in multiple places at once.
'It' Gives Pennywise Cosmic Powers
It: Welcome to Derry Episode 5, “29 Neibolt Street,” confirms what you were likely already starting to suspect in the series: Pennywise can be in two or more places at once. In the episode, Pennywise takes on several forms, including impersonating some of the characters. By the climax, it appears to be terrorizing at least three groups of people at once. Naturally, the episode left viewers questioning how it does this.
Pennywise does, indeed, have the power to appear in multiple places at once. If you’re familiar with the franchise, you’ve likely seen this ability before. In It (2017), there are scenes in which it appears to be terrorizing members of the Losers Club simultaneously in different parts of a house, such as the upper and lower levels.
In understanding its powers, one must remember that Pennywise is a cosmic being. The clown’s appearance is just one of its many forms. Both It (1990) and It (2017) touch lightly on Pennywise’s origins and powers. In the novel, it is an ancient, transdimensional alien entity with cosmic origins. The creature originated billions of years ago in a void in space known as the Macroverse before arriving on Earth in a meteor. Not only is it not of Earth, but humans cannot even comprehend its proper form.
King’s book suggests Pennywise’s proper form are “deadlights,” a sort of energy mass that can hypnotize and even kill anyone who looks at it. In It Chapter Two (2019), the Losers believe what their minds perceive as a giant arachnid to be the closest to Pennywise’s proper form. It’s easy for us to think of Pennywise as just a clown or just a shapeshifter, but that doesn’t do justice to the sheer scale of its power. Just as humans can’t even comprehend its terrifying true nature, it’s challenging to grasp the sheer scale of its power, which includes omnipresence and near-omnipotence because it lacks a true physical form.
Pennywise Is All About Creating Fear
You can also understand Pennywise’s powers better when you recognize the goal of its abilities: to create fear. Pennywise feeds on fear, and the fear, in turn, fuels its power. As a result, its goal is to stir as much chaos and fear in Derry as possible. It does this through a range of abilities that go beyond just physical shapeshifting. Often, its powers actually come into play in its victims’ minds.
In the 2017 It movie, viewers will recall how Pennywise creates illusions so powerful that it could manipulate the architecture around it. It trapped Bill (Jaeden Martell) and Richie (Finn Wolfhard) in a three-door sequence, while simultaneously trying to eat Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer). Similarly, in It: Welcome to Derry, you’ll notice there are times when it appears to be physically there, while other manifestations seem to be illusions. For example, Major Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) sees things that Captain Pauly Russo (Rudy Mancuso) doesn’t, suggesting Pennywise is in his head. He also seems to be in Dick Haloran’s (Chris Chalk) head, while simultaneously physically with the children in the sewer.
Pennywise’s omnipresence is the most significant advantage in terms of fear. Nothing creates fear and chaos like simultaneously attacking more than one person at the same time. Any ideas one might have of distracting it or sneaking up on it go to waste. Nothing raises fear like the idea that an entity can be in anyone’s mind at any time. In this way, Pennywise becomes a manifestation of fear, an omnipresent threat that can affect people simultaneously.
'It: Welcome To Derry' Episode 5 Debuts Pennywise, But He’s Always Been There
Pennywise, in clown form, just made his long-awaited debut in It: Welcome to Derry. Within hours, the episode trended on social media, as viewers applauded the grand entry and the perfectly suspenseful, eerie buildup. Although we’ve all been waiting to see the iconic clown form and Skarsgård’s impeccable performance, Pennywise has been in the show the whole time.
In Episodes 1-5, Pennywise appears in a variety of forms. I also found it interesting that two of those forms were of pregnant women. It seems to be a nod to Pennywise’s proper form as a pregnant arachnid in the book, which the Losers Club members interpret to mean the entity is actually female, despite its gender being more complicated than that. It was also amusing when he appeared to the military men as “Uncle Sam.” Mostly, though, whether it’s an Uncle Sam, an eerie family, or a creepy man, Pennywise’s many forms in It: Welcome to Derry are wildly powerful.
The forms are gruesome, brutal, and lethal, highlighting the entity’s power in a way that the movies don’t. If you’re looking for an It adaptation that feels like a truly faithful iteration on Pennywise that doesn’t need to over-utilize Skarsgård to get attention, It: Welcome to Derry offers just that. Some viewers, though, may be in it more for the clown, in which case It (2017) and It Chapter Two might be more appealing.
