It: Welcome to Derry creators talk in detail about the major death in the finale

One of the creators of the horror prequel series, It: Welcome to Derry, Jason Fuchs, elucidates in detail about the major death that takes place in Episode 8, "Winter Fire," in Season One.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for It: Welcome to Derry. Reader discretion is advised.

In a conversation with ScreenRant, this is what Fuchs says about Rich's death, as well as the symbolic portrayal of his spirit. He says:

"Rich's sacrifice is one of the saddest moments of the season, but I also think it's one of the most tragically beautiful. To be able to pay it back and have him return in episode 8 and help his friends complete their mission, that all felt like the kind of hope I wanted to imbue the show with."

Keep reading to find out what more Jason Fuchs says about his vision behind Rich's death in It: Welcome to Derry.

It: Welcome to Derry co-creator reveals the vision behind Rich's death in the show

In episode 7 of It: Welcome to Derry, we witness Rich Santos's unfortunate demise at the time of the Black Spot fire. It is due to Rich's heroic actions that Marge gets saved from the fire. In order to save Marge, Rich ends up giving his life.

In the future, Marge, upon her son's birth, named him in honor of Rich. He is Richie Tozier, one of the crucial members of The Losers Club who join together to annihilate Pennywise once and for all.

However, in the finale episode of Season One, we come to know that Pennywise experiences time in a non-sequential manner. This means all timelines -- past, present, and future -- exist together. Hence, the evil clown, who knows about Marge's future child, eradicates every possibility that could put an end to him.

But here comes the symbolic twist. In that episode, Rich's spirit appears in a psychological sense. He becomes the spiritual force that gives strength and possibilities to Marge. This enables the much-awaited overthrow of Pennywise by putting him back into the cage.

In an interview with ScreenRant, this is what Jason Fuchs says about the choice behind Rich's death and his spiritual return, as he mentions:

"We knew this was a show that was going to have a lot of darkness and bleakness, just by virtue of the cycle and what this material is. But we wanted to find something inspiring and hopeful too."

Furthermore, in the interview, Fuchs also talks about the origin of the whole Rich arc in It: Welcome to Derry. He felt that the confrontation between Pennywise and the parent of one of the members of the Losers Club was working really well in the story, as he states:

"The Rich decision really was generated before I even knew who Rich was. What I knew was that I wanted to find real emotion and heartbreak in the show, and I wanted to find a way to connect that emotion to the stories of our Losers in 1989 in ways that might feel unexpected. Certainly, there are linkages throughout the season to the films and to the later cycles that are right in front of your face and obvious. We understand the linkages between the Hanlon family and Mike, but I thought it would be interesting if we had a character who was the parent of one of our losers, who maybe we didn't understand to be that at the beginning of the season."

Interestingly, there is a deep emotional core that works really well -- Marge's connection with a persona named 'Rich.' Marge is alive because of a person named Rich, and in the future, she gives birth to a child and ends up naming him Rich. The whole interplay of timelines, along with memory, is a rich area to explore as well. Here's what the co-creator of It: Welcome to Derry says:

"We know a little bit about Rich's mom from canon, but what if the story of her relationship in this show is the story of why she named her son Rich? What if the only two men she ever truly loved in her life were the boy who saved her as an adolescent and the son she'd later have? Naming him Rich was a reference to that, whether she knows it or not - because she's been in Derry a long time, so maybe those memories aren't all still there. There's something even more tragic about the fact that she's sitting in that hospital the day she gives birth to Rich Tozier and doesn't know why Rich feels like the right name; she just knows that it does."

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Also read: IT: Welcome to Derry sets up another Stephen King classic - here's how

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