IT: Welcome to Derry – All the haunting easter eggs in the title sequence, revealed

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 2 "The Thing in the Dark" streamed exclusively on HBO Max on Friday, October 31, 2025. One of the surprising things that has fans buzzing is the new opening scene, with a song playing in the background. The addition of an opening sequence is not surprising because legacy HBO shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, and Westworld.

But the opening scene came out of nowhere, as the Welcome to Derry premiere did not have an opening scene. However, there might be a reason why the people working on the series included an opening in the second episode of the show. The probable reason for including an opening in the second episode is that it finally introduces us to the major players of IT: Welcome to Derry.

The IT: Welcome to Derry opening hints at Pennywise's previous massacres:

The opening of IT: Welcome to Derry sees a postcard-style art showing the history of Derry to the 1956 song “A Smile and A Ribbon”. The opening begins with artwork of idyllic 20th-century life in Derry. Slowly, we see Pennywise luring in children. The cheery and bright opening then pulls the rug under the viewers as we see a child being lobotomized in Juniper Hill.

Then, the opening depicts the Bradley Gang shootout, which occurred in the 1930s, and the Ironworks explosion in 1908. Pennywise was involved in both of these events in the IT lore. This season of IT: Welcome to Derry is set in 1962, where the eight episodes lead to the burning of the bar, The Black Spot, by racists. The Shining's Dick Hallorann is the man helping the bar patrons to safety, but he also feels Pennywise's presence in the book.

If HBO greenlights Welcome to Derry for the next two seasons, then the second season, set in the 1930s, will lead to the Bradley Gang shootout, and the third season will lead to the 1908 Ironworks explosion.

Andy Muschietti discusses the opening scene:

The opening scene in the second episode of Welcome to Derry was created by a production studio called Filmograph. Prasing Filmograph's work in the opening, Muschietti justified the title Welcome to Derry:

“The name Welcome to Derry felt touristic and brings you to the world of postcards and facade, which has a lot to do with what Derry is — a place that’s seemingly wholesome, but there’s something dreadful under the surface. There was a lot of tweaking and calibration — how much is the next step? It reflects our desire to show the big catastrophic events [described in Stephen King’s book IT], all leading to the explosion at the Ironworks.”

One of the standing features of this introductory sequence is the creepy song that clearly seems to suggest the adults of Derry willfully ignore the danger Pennywise poses to the kids of Derry:

“The song is about faking a state of mind, faking a feeling. The message of the song wrapped in such a beautiful tune is dreadful in itself.”

Will we get the introduction scene in the next episodes?

Most likely, we will get the opening in the upcoming episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry as well. It sets up the mood for the episode and the entire series as well. But we will learn more when episode 3 releases on Sunday, November 9, 2025.

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As of now, two episodes of Welcome to Derry are streaming on HBO Max. Catch them before the third episode releases on November 9, 2025.

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