I love a good teen/kid ensemble, especially in a sci-fi or horror story. From the wild adventure of the Goonies to the deeply beloved journey of the Stranger Things kids, there’s something about seeing kids ban together to fight against some evil or accomplish a mission that sparks joy. I thought my latest collective of bold and bright cuties was all set in the first episode of IT: Welcome to Derry, but I was wrong as hell because, by the credits, three of them were brutally killed in a theater at night. May Phil the conspiracy theorist, Suzy the chatty little sis, and Teddy the comic book kid all rest in peace.
For the most part, scary movies and films that have a strong ensemble give them a lot of plot armor. That’s the only way that Will, Lucas, Mike, AND Dustin are all somehow still alive in Stranger Things. They place other unfortunate people like Barb and Eddie Munson in harm’s way to up the death toll. And honestly, I expected the same when I began to watch this new IT prequel series.
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We meet Lilly Bainbridge, a young girl haunted by her father’s untimely death and called “loony” by her peers. She wants to figure out what happened to Matty, a boy who went missing a few months prior. She manages to loop in Matty’s loose associates Phil and Teddy into the mix. Honestly, they are the only people who would possibly believe her. The trio and Phil’s little sister discover that their peer Ronnie is the last person to see Matty alive. She’s the girl who tried to help him escape the theater after he was caught not paying.
So, this group of five went to the theater for some answers. And they got way more than they bargained for because that weird demon baby from the first scene swooped in to kill them. In the end, Lilly is holding Suzy’s severed arm as Ronnie looks in horror. Lilly’s face is covered in blood and she screams to end the episode.
This bait-and-switch of sorts shook viewers who just knew that Phil and Teddy would be pivotal characters. It would’ve made sense for Suzy to fade to the background after tagging along for one weird day. Then, Will Hanlon would become the official fifth member of the crew. But, throwing the viewers for a loop was always the plan, according to Welcome to Derry showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane.
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We always wanted to create a pilot that was surprising, that sort of conveyed that the rules were going to be different and that you didn’t know where this was going,” Jason Fuchs told Nerdist. “But that intent didn’t really come to full expression until Brad made it so. I’d written a pilot that ended with a slightly different version of the ending, and it was Brad who said, ‘Wait a second. They basically all die.’ And my first reaction was horror because I love these characters so much, and my second reaction was, “Well, if my first reaction was shock, then this is exactly the right thing to do!’
Brad Caleb Kane added, “But even before that solution, we did talk about the idea of making viewers feel like no character is going to be safe. You want viewers off their guard the whole way through. What’s the ultimate expression of that? Kill all of your main characters in the first episode. It just felt like a fresh way to approach the material.
It is a fresh albeit disturbing way to kick off a series indeed. Welcome to Derry co-creator Andy Muschietti also added to the conversation about this wild scene. He said that the showrunners’ choice was in line with honoring the source material.
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“I think it is part of the book and the kids are intimately related to what the monster is,” he said to Nerdist. “It’s a larger, deeper reflection about what the value of childhood is and the beautiful virtues of childhood opposed to adulthood where we lose the capacity to imagine things and believe in things and have faith in things. So ultimately, it’s a reflection about keeping the faith against all odds, and that’s why children are in the center of it. Children are the victims, but also are the heroes eventually.”
We will see what path Lilly and Ronnie take to be heroic in the wake of this horrific event. One thing is for sure—we don’t envy what they will have to face next.
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