Spoilers ahead for the season finale of IT: Welcome to Derry.
Andy Muschietti's pair of IT films are some of the best horror movies in recent memory, so fans like me were hyped when it was revealed he was expanding the world with the prequel show Welcome to Derry. The series, which is streaming with a HBO Max subscription, recently aired its season finale, and actress Taylour Paige got honest about not being happy with her character Charlotte's fate. Let's break it all down.
Welcome to Derry instantly became a HBO show that got the world talking, largely thanks to the grizzly way it murdered a group of kids in the first episode. The eight-episode season was full of twists and connections to the movies, including the Hanlon family. They decided to stay in Derry to help protect against Pennywise, and in an interview with Deadline Page shared her honest response, offering:
No, I’m not happy with the way this was written, if I’m being honest. I’m like, ‘There’s no fucking way.’ I mean, I guess the lore is that you forget when you’re in Derry, but I don’t buy it.
That was definitely honest. It sounds like Paige is unhappy with the fact that Rose and Leroy decided to stay in the haunted town after all the atrocities they witnessed. While she mentions that the IT's powers make the residents of Derry forget what happens, the Zola actress is still not satisfied with their decision to stick around. After all, most parents would presumably move away and get their kid away from the terrifying dancing clown.
Welcome to Derry's finale offered a number of thrilling connections to Muschietti's movies, including the Hanlon family. Leroy appears as an old man in It, while Mike Hanlon becomes a member of the Loser Club. We also learn that Marge is Richie's mother, and even got a glimpse of Sophia Lillis' Bev Marsh. Later in the same interview, Taylour Paige spoke more about the Hanlons staying in Derry after the show's Season 1 finale, offering:
I wanted more for Charlotte and this family, but I think it would have been maybe too radical for Charlotte to leave. And also too radical for women of 1962 to be like, ‘I’m out.’ That was very rare. It just didn’t really happen then, right? Most people stayed in loveless marriages. Most women, I think, were martyrs had to deny themselves to keep the family together.
Points were made. Paige used the time setting of Welcome to Derry to help justify her character's decision at the end of the season. Because even if Charlotte wanted to take her kid and leave town, that was a risky move in the '60s. That, combined with the Hanlon's sense of duty, ultimately resulted in them sticking around Derry in hopes of keeping the fight against Pennywise alive.
There certainly seems like plenty more stories to tell, so I'm hoping the network orders Season 2 sooner rather than later. For now, IT: Welcome to Derry is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max as part of the 2025 TV schedule.
