Bill Skarsgård explores Pennywise’s non-linear time in It. [Image Source: YIMG]
Set decades before the original It movies, the series It: Welcome to Derry explores the deeper mythology of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, with actor Bill Skarsgård shedding light on a puzzling aspect of the character: Pennywise’s unusual perception of time. The show takes place mainly in 1962, yet Pennywise is aware of events from 1989 and 2016, demonstrating that time does not function normally for this entity.
The Nonlinear Timeline and Pennywise’s Strategy
The storyline in It: Welcome to Derry Season 1 unfolds in a timeline that challenges the viewer’s understanding, occurring 27 years after the first It film and 54 years before It: Chapter Two. Pennywise’s greater scheme includes targeting children well before the events of the movies, aiming to prevent the formation of the Losers Club by effectively erasing their futures. This ability to anticipate and influence events across different eras hints at Pennywise existing outside standard temporal rules.
Bill Skarsgård Reflects on Pennywise’s Temporal Nature
In an interview, Skarsgård addressed this complex facet of his character’s nature. He stated,
“I thought that was an interesting thing that the character is kind of going in two different directions,”
indicating the character’s simultaneous presence across multiple timeframes. He continued by asking,
“But what’s time to something that is not part of this dimension?”
This suggests Pennywise’s relationship with time may involve looping or leaping through eras at will, rather than following a linear progression.
The Abstract Cosmic Forces Behind Pennywise
Attempting to fully explain how Pennywise navigates time is challenging, even for the actor. Skarsgård remarked,
Image of: Bill Skarsgård
“It’s so abstract this transdimensional evil being thing with a spider and a turtle or whatever. It is really out there. From reading the book, you can interpret it a thousand different ways,”
referring to the mystical elements surrounding Pennywise’s origin. The “turtle” he mentions is Maturin, a primordial cosmic force symbolizing the opposite of Pennywise within Stephen King’s broader mythology. However, the exact rules governing their existence remain unclear. Skarsgård admitted,
“I’m pretty sure Stephen King doesn’t really know,”
highlighting the ambiguity in the character’s mythos.
Implications of Pennywise’s Timeless Existence
Given Pennywise’s potential connection to Maturin and their existence beyond conventional time, ordinary human concepts of past, present, and future likely do not apply to him. Despite the confusion this creates, Skarsgård encourages viewers not to overthink the mechanics. He explained,
“It’s kind of this little bookend thing how we ended it,”
and added,
“I’m not quite sure where we’re going with it, but there’s something fun to explore that Pennywise might be going backwards, but it’s forwards for him just as it is for the audience who are.”
Future Seasons Will Delve Deeper into Derry’s Dark Past
Under the direction of Andy Muschietti, It: Welcome to Derry is planned to continue for three seasons, each stepping further back in time. The upcoming Season 2 is set to be located in 1935, unraveling more layers of the town’s dark history. Season 3 will then move even further back, to 1908, offering viewers an extended look into the longstanding curse that haunts Derry and Pennywise’s influence through time.
