Pennywise Is Finally Back and the New ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Mid-Season Trailer Is Pure Nightmare fuel

It’s been clear for a while now that the stage was being set for a major moment in the horror-verse, and now, it’s finally here. Midway through the first half of IT: Welcome to Derry, HBO has released a mid-season trailer that’s verified the series is moving past atmospheric teases and into outright terror. After a first half that’s been comprised of shadowy figures, unidentified entities, and building dread, Pennywise is now in full form and ready to start eating again.

The latest trailer gives viewers a much clearer look at Skarsgård reprising his role as the clown than any previous moment in the series. In one shot, Pennywise issues a simple-yet-menacing promise: “I’ve always wondered how you’d taste.” The line, following weeks of poke and prod behavior, signals an end to the teaser and the beginning of the nightmare. After establishing alternate forms of the creature and the cast during earlier episodes, the latter half of the season focuses on making Pennywise the main antagonist. The trailer also sets a few Easter eggs for fans of the franchise, with rolling mist engulfing Derry and ominous imagery both fresh and reminiscent of both IT: Chapter One and Chapter Two. Notable details like the Shawshank State Prison bus make the connection to the King universe even more clear.

This is especially true given the series’s connections to the history of Derry, Maine. Set in 1962, many years before the film adaptation of IT: Chapter One, the series serves as an extension of Andy Muschietti’s work while also drawing from Mike Hanlon’s historical digressions in the book. Those chapters take readers back through the town’s violent history in the weeks leading up to the main story, suggesting that the series is ramping up to a few of the book’s biggest tragedies.

An interview with Chris Chalk, who stars as a young Dick Halloran, reveals a new layer to the character when the audience first encounters him. According to Chalk, Halloran is at the point where his nascent mind-reading powers leave him more alienated from the world around him than other characters have been to this point, and also, he “always has a very solipsistic view” of the world around him. In Halloran’s case, that’s because “he’s hearing people’s thoughts all the time,” which has an effect on his ability to connect with others. Chalk also details a contrast that exists between the newfound bravado he has in his own abilities and the reality of the world around him, a disparity that he admits will cause friction later on, especially as Halloran becomes aware of the entity that haunts Derry.

With Season 1, Episode 5, “Neibolt Street,” on the horizon, anticipation is already running high. Though HBO has yet to release an official synopsis for the upcoming episode, the trailer offers some clues that the series is only going to get darker, and there is a return of danger for the season’s primary cast. Pennywise’s shadowy silhouette at the end of Episode 4 served as something of a turning point, and the fifth chapter promises to bring even more direct interaction with the creature.

The final four episodes will significantly up the ante, with an emphasis on the increasingly disturbing visions, elements of Derry’s long-buried past, new developments in its characters’ stories, and of course, the full terrifying potential of Pennywise. It seems like this series has only just begun to crack Derry’s facade, and as we roll into the second half of the season (episode 5 airs Sunday, November 23rd), there’s every reason to expect it to only get darker from here.