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Major spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 follow.

I gotta say - when IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 premiered in October, I did not think I'd be finishing the season eight weeks later with tears in my eyes. But hey, life is full of surprises, and after an edge-of-your-seat, gore-splattered, and deeply emotional end to Winter Fire, the series' eighth episode, here I am. Damn you, HBO, and you have my thanks.

Along with all those things I mentioned above, though, this series finale was dense, absolutely packed with info that harkens back to Stephen King's original novel, sets up the show moving forward, and downright changes the series we thought we were watching on a fundamental level. So, with all of that swirling around in your equally terrified, equally moved brain, Pennywise-fan, I thought we'd clear some stuff up by writing this IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 ending explained.

It should go without saying (though I have indeed said it, in big letters even), that this article will contain major spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry season 1. So if you go into this expecting even a little bit of the final episode to stay unrevealed to you, well, I don't know what to tell you - except that you are really bad at warnings. Stay away from sewer balloons, OK?

For everybody else, let's get into it.

What happens in the IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 finale?

The final episode of IT: Welcome to Derry begins with a Pennywise attack the scale of which we've yet to see in the franchise. Soaked in gore, Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) infiltrates Derry's middle school, slaughtering the principal in front of the entire student body and then revealing to them the mind-numbing Dead Lights. Incapacitated, the students are helplessly levitated off the ground and transformed into a garish parade with Pennywise's iconic carnival cart at the front. But where are they headed?

Nowhere good, it turns out. After finally joining forces with the Shokopiwah tribe, who have known about the Entity called IT for centuries, the few adults of Derry who know what's going on (mostly the parents of the main kids) learn that Pennywise is moving toward the southernmost border of Derry and, even more terrifying, toward his own freedom.

Recall, if you will, that Welcome to Derry has established the Entity stays confined because of the "Pillars," mystic artifacts that surround the town and keep him caged. Unfortunately, the US military has destroyed one of those Pillars, in an effort to let Pennywise run amok in the United States to 'restore order' through fear (what could go wrong, right?). Now, Pennywise is making a beeline toward the broken link in the proverbial fence, and the only way he can be stopped is if another artifact is buried at the town's borderline. But where are they going to find another artifact?

Well, here's the teensy bit of good news - the children central to this season have an artifact with them even as the adults are looking for it. This artifact is a mystic dagger which, for the sake of brevity, we'll say has previously acted as a Kryptonite for Pennywise. Another bit of good luck - after losing one of their number to Pennywise's petrifying parade, the kids are on their way toward the border at the same time their parents and the Shokopiwah are, dagger in tow.

All of this leads to a confrontation on the river that makes up Derry's southern wall, a river that, in a breathtaking display of power, Pennywise has turned to pure ice. Interrupting the clown cart to save their missing friend, our plucky young heroes succeed in slowing the Entity's progress down momentarily, but at a risk that may be too great. Just as the adults arrive in a van, Pennywise successfully separates the children, leaving poor Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler) without the protection of the dagger. 

Alone and lost in a deep fog that covers the ice, poor Marge is helpless as Pennywise approaches her, makes a startling revelation (that we'll get to later in this piece), and opens wide its terrible maw...

IT: Welcome to Derry deaths: Who dies in the season 1 finale?

Before we answer that question, we gotta address who died before the season 1 finale: that is, the endlessly endearing Rich Santos (played by Arian Cartaya), one of the five main kids at this season's forefront. In an episode 7 moment that was as tear-jerking as it was positively shocking, Rich sacrificed himself at the burning Black Spot, so that his crush, Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler), could live. And if you haven't seen that episode, well, put it on for your most emotionally tough pals and see if there's a dry eye in the house by the end.

Anyway, cutting back to the clown on the ice - just as he's about to make a killing blow, Pennywise is halted by the psychic powers of Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), who messes with the monster via the memories of Bob Gray, the human whose form the Entity stole. This doesn't last very long, and, unfortunately, it doesn't give our heroes much of a win. Before they can continue toward the dagger's burial site, the US military catches up with them and opens fire, wounding Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo) and killing poor Taniel (Joshua Odjick).

Before soldiers surround them, Leroy manages to give the dagger to his son Will (Blake Cameron James) and his pals, but their chances of getting it to the tree seem pretty damn low. Not only has Pennywise broken free of his psychic restraints, but the dagger is also resisting its own burial, physically forcing the already weakened children back. Pennywise stops for just a moment to greet General Francis Shaw (James Remar), who he repays by biting off his head, but then he's off toward the kids. At this point, they've reached the burial site but don't have the combined strength to get the dagger under the ground, and all hope seems lost.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, our favorite psychic Dick Hallorann sees the spirit of a Native American Shaman that has, thus far, always preceded visions of the dead. And through the fog, it appears she's brought along another, familiar-looking ghost along with her... Rich Santos! As Pennywise takes flight to try and reach the kids faster, our hero, Rich, heads directly toward his friends, not even pausing as he turns toward the clown and gives him a triumphant middle finger. 

In just the nick of time, Rich reaches his brave compatriots and provides the last push they need to put the dagger in the ground. Magical light explodes from the burial places and throws the demon clown onto his back, flinging him away from the children and into cold defeat. Pissed beyond any mortal reckoning, Pennywise's form starts to warp and peel away, finally leaving him as just a tiny, orange light that flees into the night.

And though it certainly won't be for good, the children of Derry are safe.

What happens to Dick Hallorann in the IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 finale?

It was a damn close call, but yes, Dick Hallorann survives the events of IT: Welcome to Derry season 1. I mean, we kinda knew he had to - otherwise how else would his older self appear in The Shining - but even still, things looked a little dodgy heading into episode 8. That said, the visions of ghosts plaguing Dick that nearly caused his suicide have been abated, thanks to the Shokopiwah tribe’s tea made from Maturin root.

And yes, Stephen King die-hards. That’s Maturin, as in the great deific Turtle being Maturin. But we already knew he’d be in Welcome to Derry, remember?

Anyway, by the end of the season 1 finale, ol’ Dick Hallorrann is on the up and up. Er, kinda. Actually, he’s about to get into a very interesting kind of work. Informing Leroy Hanlon that he’s going to take a job as a resort chef, Hallorrann ends his run by asking, “How much trouble can a hotel be?”

If you only knew, bud. If you only knew.

But hey, let’s not leave Derry for the Overlook just yet, King fans. Despite all the revealing we’ve already done, there’s still one question about the IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 finale we haven’t answered yet. And in this humble viewer’s opinion, the answer is part of the show’s absolute most important reveal yet.

Who is Richie Tozier's mom in IT: Welcome to Derry?

Before the events of Winter Fire, the final episode in IT: Welcome to Derry season 1, this question wouldn't have mattered that much, save that we could assume the parents of Richie Tozier (played as a child by Finn Wolfhard and as an adult by Bill Hader in the IT movies) were perhaps around for the events of this series. But now, this question matters a lot, as it turns out the answer is none other than our beloved Marge Truman, or as Pennywise refers to her during the climactic confrontation, "Margie Tozier."

Yep, Marge will someday become mom to Derry's bravest trashmouth, but even more shocking than this reveal is the implication behind it. That is, the Entity called IT knows the future?

"Yesterday, today, tomorrow," says the bloodied-up clown, "It's all the same for little Pennywise."

Hold up - so it's not just that Pennywise knows the future, it's that Pennywise is experiencing time non-linearly. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this casts the series in an entirely different light - not only does it remove the show's prequel status, but it fully changes the plot as we know it. What appeared to us as a recounting of the events before the IT movies may actually be Pennywise's response after them, with the beast traversing time to kill the Losers' Club's ancestors, thus preventing his own eventual death.

I know, I know, it's heavy stuff, and we're not going to pretend it's not a little wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. But getting back to Marge, it seems the future mother of Richie has a bit of an idea how the rest of the series will play out - or rather, how it already did play out, in the before-times we have yet to see. Speaking to Lilly Bainbridge at the end of episode 8, Marge lays out Pennywise's plan to rewrite time, to which Lilly responds that that will be (or was, time-travel's hard) "someone else's fight."

It's true, Marge. That's for your ancestors and us, the viewers, to worry about. You just go about living your life, and when your son does show up, be sure to name him after that boy who saved you all so long ago.

When is IT: Welcome to Derry season 2 set?

Speaking of futures past, we already know that IT: Welcome to Derry season 2 will continue moving forward by taking us back. Long before we knew about Pennywise's Doctor Manhattan powers, series creators Andy and Barbara Muschietti told us that each season of the show would take us 27 years backwards into Derry's history, coinciding with IT's bloody feeding cycles. Don't worry - we'll do the math so you don't have to; this means IT: Welcome to Derry season 2 will be set around 1935.

Of course, we already got a bit of a taste for Derry during that time period in season 1, when we followed a flashback to Ingrid Kirsch's early days at Juniper Hill. You know, Ingrid? Who we found out was the daughter of the human clown Bob Gray? Of course, you know.

However, that wasn't the only hint at season 2's timeline that we got from season 1. Remember when the US military uncovered the remnants of the bloody Bradley Gang Massacre? That slaughter of a couple of wannabe Al Capones happened in 1935 exactly. Similar to the awful deaths at The Black Spot in this season's episode 7, we expect this massacre to be a defining plot point of season 2, as well as the awful endcap to the next Pennywise cycle we explore.

When is the IT: Welcome to Derry season 2 release date? 

Ah. Well, that's a question that even the deepest dive into Stephen King lore can't answer, I'm afraid. As of this writing, IT: Welcome to Derry's season 2 release date has not been officially announced by HBO, though we know that the network and parent company Warner Bros. have given the greenlight. We also know that the Muschiettis will be back for the next season, and we hope that producer Brad Caleb Kane and writer Jason Fuchs join them.

Oh gosh, and don't forget Pennywise himself, Bill Skarsgård. At this point, it's pretty hard to imagine an IT series without him playing the titular monster.

The final thing we can say for certain, though, dearest reader, is that whatever news comes out of the damned domain of Derry, Maine, you can count on your pals at Popverse to cover it. So keep an eye over here, won't you? IT: Welcome to Derry season 1 may be over, but we're all still floating down here.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." Join Popverse's weekly explorations of the best opening moments of horror cinema in The Coldest Open, and then check out:

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And much gore. Er, more. Much more.