Episode 3 of It: Welcome to Derry gave viewers the strongest hint yet that Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown is about to make his debut in the show. The HBO prequel continues to explore Derry’s dark history and the origins of the entity that terrorizes the town.
Does Pennywise appear in It: Welcome to Derry Episode 3?
It: Welcome to Derry Episode 3, titled “Now You See It,” ends with a major tease. After a cemetery séance goes wrong, Will Hanlon finds himself trapped in a crypt. He snaps a photo of something lurking in the shadows. When the image develops, the figure appears to have glowing eyes and a clown-like outline. Will confirms it by saying, “It’s a clown.”
Showrunners Brad Caleb Kane and Jason Fuchs have clarified on this. “Is that Pennywise at the end of 103? I don’t know. We think it is,” Kane told Deadline. Later, he added, “It’s absolutely Pennywise. That’s what I’m going to say to your viewers, and they should go in thinking that.”
The creators seem to have left the question open, but indications suggest that Bill Skarsgård’s clown’s appearance is imminent.
What happens in It: Welcome to Derry Episode 3 ending?
The episode connects several storylines leading to the possible reveal. It begins with a flashback showing a young Francis Shaw, later General Shaw, encountering a creature with sharp teeth in the woods, which links to Derry’s ongoing curse.
In the present day, psychic Dick Hallorann uses his abilities to help the military locate a supernatural entity buried beneath the town. During a psychic vision, he finds himself in a flooded sewer facing a circus wagon labeled Pennywise the Dancing Clown. He hears a voice ask, “Who are you?” before he snaps back to reality.
Meanwhile, the new group of kids, Lilly, Ronnie, Will, and Rich, try to photograph the force haunting them. Their ritual in the cemetery goes wrong as ghostly figures appear, and Will’s camera captures the clearest evidence yet of the evil stalking Derry. Co-creator Jason Fuchs said delaying Pennywise’s appearance was deliberate. “People love Pennywise as a character now…We wanted to go back…and really make him scary again,” he explained.
By It: Welcome to Derry Episode 3 ending, Hallorann warns that something has seen him, and the children realize the danger is escalating. The closing image is of a blurred clown in a photograph, as mentioned earlier.
