'IT: Welcome to Derry' episode 7 reveals Pennywise's origin story

IT: Welcome to Derry episode 6 may have made us briefly wonder if Mrs Kersh (Madeleine Stowe) is Pennywise's daughter, but episode 7 has now given us the answer.

Opening with yet another flashback to 1908, the penultimate episode in Andy Muschietti's prequel series takes us back to the origin of not the monster itself, but the creature's infamous clown persona.

So what do we learn? We've unpacked it all below.

What happens with Pennywise in episode 7?

In 1908, Ingrid Kersh (Madeleine Stowe) is working at the fun fair with her father Bob Gray (Bill Skarsgård), who performs as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. When he's in his costume he looks like a budget version of the evil Pennywise we've come to know all too well, and it's clear that the man himself isn't an evil, child-snatching entity.

Credit: HBO

So what's going on here?

The first clue comes when we see a creepy child watching Pennywise from a window with an unsmiling expression on his face. Later, that same child approaches a makeup-free Bob and tells him that "the children seem drawn to you." The kid then says he can't find his parents, before leading Bob into the woods towards the sound of screams.

The next thing we know Ingrid's father has disappeared, and all that remains of him is a blood-spattered handkerchief that's been found in the forest.

What does it tell us about Pennywise's origin?

Firstly, the episode rules out any possibility of Mrs Kersh being the monster's actual daughter (as she herself realises towards the episode's end). What it does tell us is that Pennywise was once a real, human clown, chosen by the creature due to his popularity with children. Essentially the clown is just another one of IT's many disguises — the form it reverts to when it wants to lure in children.

New episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.