What happened to Matty in It: Welcome to Derry? Character’s fate explored

Matty Clements in It: Welcome to Derry is portrayed as a young boy and a resident of Derry, Maine. The HBO prequel shows a timeline set in 1962, and Matty has a shy and childlike personality, still using a pacifier despite his age. This makes him an easy target for It, a killer clown who preys on vulnerable and innocent kids.

Matty Clements shares a brief time period, but he appears to be the first victim of It, the greater evil power. His existence symbolizes the return of Pennywise in Derry, Maine, the looming threat that viewers are about to witness. Matty's character arc defines the horror of Derry and sets up anticipation for what's to follow.

What happened to Matty in It: Welcome to Derry?

It: Welcome to Derry opens with Matty going to a movie at Derry's local theatre and later taking a ride home, hitchhiking with a family that appears to be normal. But as he gets into the car, the mother suddenly goes into labor, and the family screams "O-U-T," which sets up an eerie tone for the show. The birth of the baby is cursed already, as the baby comes out with wings and other abnormalities. A few moments later, the car stops while Matty steps out and vanishes. This entire scene suggests that the family and the newborn baby are the first victims of It in Derry’s 1962 timeline.

Four months later, Matty's friends, Lily, Phil, Teddy, Sussie, and Ronnie, begin to suspect that Matty's disappearance isn't normal. Lily catches Matty listening to the song "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man through her bathtub drain. This is followed by the image of Matty's bloody finger reaching for her through the pipes of the drain.

This shows how It often moves unnoticed via the underground system of the locality, emerging when it appears to be the right time to scare kids.

Another scene where Matty appears is again in the movie theatre where he was first seen. This time, the kids are suspicious about their friend and return to investigate Matty's whereabouts and his connection with the song. When Ronnie plays the film reel of The Music Man, the projector suddenly changes, and Matty appears on screen holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. He gives a grin like Pennywise and hurls the bundle toward the camera. The bundle then bursts open, and the evil winged baby emerges out of the screen to scare the kids in the theatre, only this time, the baby appears more monstrous and larger.

This horrifying moment confirms that Matty is no longer alive in any human sense. He's become a vessel or manifestation of It’s evil.

Matty Clement's character fate explored in depth as per It: Welcome to Derry

Later on, Matty becomes the prey of the same evil he is a fragment of. He is abducted and killed by It, his other possessed avatars. But even in this scene, he doesn’t simply die. Instead, he appears to be absorbed by It’s psychic realm, a liminal space where victims’ souls linger and can appear as projections or voices, often twisted reflections of themselves.

Therefore, though Matty shares brief screentime, he appears to be the harbinger of It's return to Derry, especially after his Pennywise-like smile. This also makes his story both personal and central to the mystery of the town, adding emotional depth for the kids.

It: Welcome to Derry writer, while speaking with Decider, explained how they came up with the idea of Matty’s character:

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“We were just hoping to start the show in a way that felt both familiar and fresh. Obviously the book, the movie, begins with Georgie being taken. So it felt appropriate to have Matty Clements have our first It abduction, but I wanted to do it in a fresh way.”

Matty becomes the first child lost in the 1962 cycle, and his presence becomes symbolic of Derry's descent and the arrival of great evil.

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