IT: Welcome To Derry Episode 7’s Major Changes To Stephen King Book Explained By Creators

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Be aware: the following contains spoilers for episode 7 of IT: Welcome to Derry. The creators of the show, Andy and Barbara Muschietti, and co-showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, have discussed why episode 7 alters some important details from the Black Spot fire as it appears in the Stephen King novel. This fire is a crucial event in Derry’s past and has been a major focus throughout the first season of the HBO series.

During the CCXP panel for IT: Welcome to Derry, director Andy Muschietti, as reported by ScreenRant‘s Jordan Williams, shared how Hank Grogan’s character changes the events leading up to the fire. However, Muschietti explained that the core reasons behind the story and its final result remain consistent. You can find his full explanation below.

The main events of the story closely follow the book, but the circumstances leading up to the central tragedy are different. While the characters, plotlines, and their development all come together at the Black Spot in episode 7, it happens in a new way compared to the book. The reasons behind the villains’ actions are also changed – in the series, they’re searching for Hank Grogan, a character not present in the book. However, the core issue remains the same: it’s a hate crime driven by racial prejudice.

Barbara Muschietti explained that Hank Grogan is simply a pretext for the violence in the seventh episode of Welcome to Derry. The racist group uses the excuse of hunting Hank to justify their actions, but their true motivation is prejudice and hatred. This ultimately leads them to set fire to the Black Spot, harming everyone inside. Hank is just a convenient excuse for their bigotry.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Kane discussed a change from the original story: the creature ‘It’ won’t appear as a giant bird attacking people. Instead, in the seventh episode, ‘It’ will primarily take the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Kane explained that while earlier versions of the script featured the bird form, it was ultimately cut due to the challenges and costs of bringing it to life.

We went through several versions of episode 107 that included the bird, but it ultimately didn’t make it into the final cut. The main reason was money. The Black Spot scene was a huge undertaking. Most shows get around 10 to 13 days to film an episode, and that’s a good amount of time. But on It: Welcome to Derry, 13 days would only cover filming the burning of the Black Spot – probably even less, around 10 days. And episode 107 tells a much larger story than just that fire.

Throughout the first season, the entity appeared in many frightening ways, but episode 7 really focuses on its Pennywise the clown form. The episode starts with scenes set in 1908, revealing the story of Bob Gray, the clown who inspired the look that It eventually takes on.

As the directors and writer have pointed out, episode 7 introduces several new plotlines during and following the fire, and some of these diverge from the original book. In addition to expanding on It’s history, the flashbacks allow Ingrid Kersh, also known as Periwinkle, to finally understand that It is not her father.

The show makes the tragic events at the Black Spot even more emotionally impactful, especially Rich Santos’s selfless sacrifice to save Marge Truman during the fire. His friends are still grieving this loss at the end of Welcome to Derry episode 7, and It uses their vulnerability to its advantage in the episode’s closing moments.

The Black Spot fire was a huge event that viewers had been waiting for since the show was first announced, but there’s still one episode left in the first season of IT: Welcome to Derry. The current storyline involving It isn’t finished, and it’s all because of a mistake made by the military. Plus, the story could still change before a potential second season – which hasn’t been confirmed yet – goes back to 1935.

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2025-12-09 01:52