{"id":2145768,"date":"2025-11-10T05:17:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T05:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2145768"},"modified":"2025-11-10T05:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T05:17:05","slug":"welcome-to-derry-star-arian-s-cartaya-on-playing-rich-friendship-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/welcome-to-derry-star-arian-s-cartaya-on-playing-rich-friendship-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"WELCOME TO DERRY Star Arian S. Cartaya on Playing Rich, Friendship, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The power of friendship is a foundational aspect of many coming-of-age stories across all genres. This is especially true in horror situations where people\u2019s lives are literally on the line. Coming together as a force against a seemingly unstoppable evil and pushing forward with love and hugs is both entertaining and heartwarming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>IT: Welcome to Derry<\/em> certainly uses friendship to drive its narrative with a group of 1960s era social outcasts who want to discover what evil is harming kids in their town. Arian S. Cartaya portrays Rich, a band kid with a VERY interesting family who latches onto new kid Will Hanlon. Little does he know that his new homeboy will get him into a dangerous mystery that threatens their safety. Cartaya spoke with <em>Nerdist<\/em> about Rich\u2019s desire for friendship and his filming experience.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Brooke Palmer\/HBO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Interestingly, Cartaya knew very little about Pennywise and the IT universe before he nabbed the part as Rich, a kid whom he says is very similar to himself. Rich\u2019s friendship with Will Hanlon, played by Blake Cameron James, feels like a full circle moment considering the actors worked together prior to this series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt\u2019s funny because before anything about <em>Welcome to Derry<\/em> happened, we actually did an AT&amp;T commercial in Georgia and we definitely had a good connection there,\u201d Cartaya told us. \u201cAnd when we saw each other in Canada, we were like, \u2018Oh my God, it\u2019s you! Long time no see.\u2019 So we already had some kind of connection there, and we just like to go have lunch, have dinner. I\u2019m very much a hugger. So my goal at the start to the end of filming was to make Blake a hugger, and I think I accomplished that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">How adorable. Cartaya may have turned Blake into someone who loves a warm embrace, but one person he didn\u2019t want to hug on set was Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd. The actor, who portrays Pennywise the Clown, was terrifying to meet in person. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal,\u201d Cartaya said. \u201cHe\u2019s super intimidating. First, there\u2019s his height. He\u2019s super tall. He\u2019s six foot five! So just based on that, he\u2019s terrifying. But also before the scenes he would twitch and giggle and do all that stuff. And also his lazy eye is terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RELATED ARTICLE<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/nerdist.com\/article\/scariest-most-shocking-brutal-moments-it-welcome-to-derry-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Scariest and Most Shocking Moments in IT: WELCOME TO DERRY;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">The Scariest and Most Shocking Moments in IT: WELCOME TO DERRY<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Between the scenes scares aside, filming<em> Welcome to Derry <\/em>was quite the challenging experience for the rising actor. Outside of juggling his normal life as a student, Cartaya noted that the show\u2019s co-creator Andy Muschietti\u2019s very specific vision of how the show should look and progress meant that he expected perfection. This especially threw him off during his first day of filming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cHe\u2019s such a great guy, but he\u2019s such a perfectionist,\u201d the actor noted. \u201cHe wants everything how he imagines it, so with me not being used to that, that day was a little rough emotionally. And Barbara [Muschietti], Andy\u2019s sister, came up to my mom and told her that everything is fine. Andy just wants everything perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Cartaya\u2019s mom stuck close by during his filming experience, which he said helped him find grounding. Now, <em>Welcome to Derry <\/em>is out in the world and he is excited about fans\u2019 reactions to a season that he describes in the following three words: emotional, terrifying, and (of course) friendship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>IT: Welcome to Derry<\/em> is <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hbomax.com\/shows\/it-welcome-to-derry\/6c39354a-c52d-46d7-982c-b5d196988189\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:currently streaming;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">currently streaming<\/a> on HBO Max.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nerdist.com\/article\/it-welcome-to-derry-arian-s-cartaya-rich-interview\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:WELCOME TO DERRY Star Arian S. Cartaya on Playing Rich, Friendship, and More;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">WELCOME TO DERRY Star Arian S. Cartaya on Playing Rich, Friendship, and More<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nerdist.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Nerdist;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Nerdist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The power of friendship is a foundational aspect of many coming-of-age stories across all genres. This is especially true in horror situations where people\u2019s lives are literally on the line. Coming together as a force against a seemingly unstoppable evil and pushing forward with love and hugs is both entertaining and heartwarming. IT: Welcome to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2145769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[409918,409917,377985],"class_list":["post-2145768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-blake-cameron-james","tag-cartaya","tag-welcome-to-derry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WELCOME-TO-DERRY-Star-Arian-S-Cartaya-on-Playing-Rich.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2145768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145770,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145768\/revisions\/2145770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2145769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2145768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2145768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2145768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}