The more things change, the more they stay the same. That theme runs rampant through HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry. With only two episodes released so far, we have already seen the long and strange history of Derry, as well as the violence, bigotry, and supernatural history it carries. There is nothing more chilling, though, than the cruelty on display from the citizens of this cursed Maine town.
Sometimes that cruelty is shown in the form of inaction, as Charlotte Hanlon (Taylour Paige) discovers this in Welcome to Derry episode 2, when she sees a group of children bullying another kid on a busy corner, with nobody bothering to act. Charlotte’s history as an activist pushes her to intervene, and the fact that she just moved into town with her husband and son means she unfortunately doesn’t know any better.
When she goes to stop them, allowing the victim to escape, the young bullies intimidate her before chasing after the boy. The onlookers, who initially ignored the bullying as a “boys will be boys” moment, suddenly turn their attention to Charlotte, as if whatever had just happened was her fault.
Paige tells Polygon that the scene felt both timeless and particularly relevant today, when most people seem more comfortable recording injustice on their smartphones than actually stepping in to help. She adds that it’s just one more example of how Welcome to Derry is expanding the story’s horror to encompass more than its iconic killer clown.
“Beyond It the clown, what could be more insidious to humanity than turning the other cheek?” Paige says. “When we do what’s wrong in the name of justice, when we do what’s right, and it’s because it’s what everybody else is [doing], it grows. It’s the mentality of evil.”
She views instances like this as unnatural, which aligns with her character’s family background. The Hanlons have just arrived in Derry, and unlike the locals, they see inaction as a cause for concern.
“[We] have a sense that it just doesn’t have to be this way. That’s unnatural, someone’s hurt, and everyone is not doing anything,” Paige says. “And we live in that world where we can agree on what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Although Welcome to Derry is a prequel set decades before the original — and even further removed from its sequel — the town’s horrors feel reflective of our modern world. At a moment when the U.S. government is pursuing near–Gestapo-like tactics to detain undocumented immigrants and ensnare actual citizens in the process, while many others simply look on and film it with their smartphones, the show’s portrayal of passive bigotry and bullying feels uncomfortably relevant.
“There’s nuance in conversation and thinking, but we know when something’s wrong and right, and we become so disgruntled and fragmented in our response, it’s very confusing, and that is actually the scariest thing of all,” Paige says.
Just as the original It reflected the anxieties of the 1980s, both eras reveal a common truth: no matter the decade or the progress made, hatred, whether simmering quietly or erupting violently, always lurks beneath the surface.
“It leads to quite a hysterical society,” Paige says.
It: Welcome to Derry episodes 1 and 2 are streaming on HBO Max. New episodes air on Sundays.