IT Movie Director Finally Confirms Why Pennywise Targets Kids Instead of Adults

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Andy Muschietti, director of IT: Welcome to Derry, explained why Pennywise the Dancing Clown specifically targets children. The HBO Max prequel series, featuring Bill Skarsgård as the terrifying clown, delves into the events of 1962, revealing a more violent and brutal Pennywise. The series suggests that Pennywise appeared less frightening in the original movies because, in Welcome to Derry, he immediately resorts to extreme violence – killing three children and subjecting Matty Clements to a particularly cruel torment in the very first episode.

Pennywise continued to terrorize the town, using its frightening abilities to scare a young group of friends – the first iteration of the Losers’ Club – in 1962, led by Lilly Bainbridge and Will Hanlon. This fear made them more palatable when IT eventually attacked. Even though Pennywise has plenty of adults to prey on, it consistently targets children, and the reason for this preference has finally been explained.

IT Director Reveals Why Pennywise Targets Kids (And It Makes Sense)

In the fourth episode of HBO Max’s “Inside Look at IT: Welcome to Derry,” director and producer Andy Muschietti explained why Pennywise focuses on children. He stated that “kids are the most capable of believing in things that aren’t real,” which is why they are the primary targets during his recurring appearances.

According to director Andy Muschietti, the creature known as ‘IT’ operates in a strange and unsettling manner. It typically manifests as each victim’s deepest fear, and once they are sufficiently frightened, it attacks and consumes them. IT specifically targets children because they are more susceptible to believing in the impossible.

Barbara Muschietti, a producer on Welcome to Derry, explained that children often experience supernatural fear, which makes them vulnerable to Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Supernatural fear is really based on personal belief. We often see children experiencing this fear, but it’s usually adults who instill it in them.

Pennywise has always relied on fear to hunt its victims. In IT: Welcome to Derry, it uses fear as its primary weapon to torment people, and seems to enjoy transforming into frightening shapes in front of the children, highlighting just how cruel and malicious this ancient evil truly is.

Muschietti believes children are more easily frightened and controlled because adults might not immediately recognize or accept the reality of their deepest fears. This makes it simpler to separate children from others, as adults are generally more skeptical and harder to influence.

I really noticed something important in Episode 4 of IT: Welcome to Derry. When Chief Bowers didn’t believe Lilly and her friends about what happened with Pennywise, it hit me how much that lack of belief actually helps IT. It’s like, because adults so often dismiss kids’ stories about scary things, it makes the children even more vulnerable and easier for Pennywise to target when he decides to show up. It’s a really unsettling idea, and it makes so much sense within the story.

Pennywise Underestimating Kids Proved To Be Its Greatest Downfall

Although children were often Pennywise’s easiest victims, the IT movies showed that letting his guard down around them was ultimately his biggest mistake. Throughout the decades he terrorized Derry, Maine, Pennywise preyed on many children, but he was truly unprepared for the combined strength and courage of Bill Denborough and the Losers’ Club.

Pennywise was defeated by the Losers’ Club because it didn’t take them seriously. The creature failed to understand that the kids had learned to use their fears against it, transforming what scared them into a powerful strength.

Pennywise’s last word in the final fight of IT: Chapter One – “fear” – was significant because the clown finally understood the true meaning of the word. Some fans believe Pennywise even felt fear himself as he fell, experiencing it for the first time (you can find more details about this twist, involving The Galloo, in the ending of Episode 4).

As a fan, I always thought Pennywise’s biggest weakness in IT: Chapter Two was his own overconfidence. He really believed he could still scare us, even after all those years, and that attitude ultimately led to his downfall. It was tough watching the Losers’ Club struggle with their forgotten memories of Derry, but once they remembered and realized they weren’t afraid anymore, that was it – that was what finally destroyed him. It was so satisfying to see them overcome their fear and finally put an end to IT!

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2025-12-21 09:38