‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ may be rewriting one of Stephen King’s darkest moments as episode 4 drops chilling hint
HBO’s ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ has spent its debut season slowly peeling back the cursed layers of King’s most infamous town. But the latest episode suggests the series may be preparing its boldest, and bleakest, change yet. While Pennywise has been the show’s looming shadow rather than its focus, the real intrigue lies in how the prequel reimagines Derry’s violent past. And now, a chilling twist involving young Will Hanlon hints that one of the novel’s most tragic events might unfold differently this time around. Episode 4, titled “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet’s Function,” delivers one of the series’ most ambitious sequences: Pennywise’s crash landing on Earth.
But beneath the cosmic spectacle, the hour devotes major attention to two brutal encounters: one involving Marge Truman, the other targeting twelve-year-old Will Hanlon. Although Marge’s attack is disturbing, it’s Will’s brush with It that sparks serious questions about how far the series intends to stray from King’s original timeline. The show has always played with chronology. Andy Muschietti’s modern ‘IT’ films shifted the book’s 1950s/1980s dual setting into the late ’80s and 2010s, as per CBR. ‘Welcome to Derry’ continues that timeline, setting its events in 1962, twenty-seven years before the 2017 film. This adjustment gives the creators ample room to remix character histories, particularly the Hanlon family’s.
In King’s novel, Mike’s father, William Hanlon, serves in the 1930s at the Derry Army Base with Dick Hallorann. Yes, the same Hallorann from ‘The Shining.’ William later survives a targeted racist attack at The Black Spot, a makeshift club built by Black servicemen, after the Maine Legion of White Decency burns it to the ground. Hallorann helps him escape, possibly using his psychic abilities. But the series opts for a generational shift: here, Will Hanlon is a child, and it’s Mike’s grandfather, Major Leroy Hanlon, who works alongside Hallorann. This cleverly preserves the Hallorann connection while allowing the writers to explore the Hanlons from a new angle.
Yet with this change comes new narrative danger, especially after Episode 4. The quiet father-son fishing scene becomes the episode’s most unnerving moment. While Leroy walks back to the car, Will stays by the water and notices a koi swimming near him. When he leans in, a charred hand erupts from below, pulling him under. Beneath the surface, Will confronts a horribly burned apparition of his father, who warns him, “You’ll burn, too.” The imagery is unmistakable: this vision is tied to the coming Black Spot fire. The episode simultaneously shows Hallorann and fellow soldiers preparing the club, clearly setting the stage for the massacre.
Pennywise’s influence is also growing. He taunts Leroy with red balloons, appearing first at the riverbank and later by the Hanlons’ home. This creates a terrifying possibility: Is the show preparing to kill Leroy Hanlon in the fire? If so, this would mark a major deviation from King’s text, where William (not Leroy) survives the blaze. The emotional stakes are amplified even further by the series’ portrayal of Leroy as a deeply protective father who already suspects something monstrous is stalking his family. Episode 4 also emphasizes Pennywise’s growing rage toward Hallorann, who unexpectedly intrudes into the creature’s psychic space.
Leroy and Captain Pauly Russo are even revealed as pilots of the military craft that helped Hallorann track It. If the cosmic entity intends to punish those it considers threats, the upcoming fire could be its brutal retaliation. Whether Will’s watery encounter is a vision of the future or simply one of Pennywise’s manipulative illusions remains unclear. But if Leroy dies in the flames, the series will take one of King’s darkest chapters and make it even more devastating. According to USA Today, new episodes will drop every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and stream simultaneously on HBO Max.