IT Welcome to Derry has finally explained something fans have wondered about for years. Why does Pennywise always target kids.
The HBO Max prequel takes viewers back to 1962. This version of Pennywise is far darker. He is more violent. He kills children early and without hesitation. Right from the first episode, it is clear that this Pennywise does not hold back.
The show makes the movie version seem almost restrained. In Welcome to Derry, the clown is cruel from the start. He toys with children. He enjoys it. He feeds on it.
Now the reason behind this has been revealed.
Director Andy Muschietti explained that Pennywise targets kids because they believe more easily. Children can accept things that do not exist. They do not question the impossible the way adults do. Pennywise usually appears as a person’s worst fear. He shows himself only to the victim. Once the fear becomes strong enough, he attacks. Kids fall into this trap faster.
Producer Barbara Muschietti added another layer. Children often witness supernatural events first. Adults either ignore them or dismiss their stories. This leaves kids alone with their fear.
That fear is exactly what Pennywise wants. Adults in Derry rarely believe the children. This happens again in Episode 4. Lilly Bainbridge and her friends try to explain what happened in the cemetery. Chief Bowers does not believe them. This reaction is common in Derry.
Because adults do not listen, kids become easy targets. Pennywise isolates them. He controls them. He feeds on their fear.
The clown also enjoys showing off his powers. He changes shape in front of them. He plays games. It proves how cruel and sadistic he truly is. But this weakness also becomes Pennywise’s biggest mistake.
The IT movies showed what happens when kids stop being afraid. Pennywise underestimated them. He never expected the Losers’ Club to stand together. Those kids learned to turn belief into strength. They used their fear against him. That is why Pennywise lost. His final word in IT Chapter One was fear. In that moment, he finally understood it. Some fans believe Pennywise felt fear himself for the first time.
Even in IT Chapter Two, his arrogance remained. He thought adults would still be afraid. He was wrong. Once the Losers’ Club realized they no longer feared him, Pennywise had no power left.
In the end, children were not his greatest strength.
They were his downfall.
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