It: Welcome To Derry's Opening Credits Are Loaded With Stephen King Easter Eggs

"It: Welcome to Derry" is here in all its gory glory, and the second episode has revealed the prequel show's opening credits for the first time. These credits are pretty memorable (although I have to confess I have a fear they were created with the help of AI; I've reached out to a representative to confirm but so far have received no reply), resembling a series of ghoulish postcards advertising the cursed town of Derry, Maine. While the ominously cheerful song "A Smile and a Ribbon" plays, sung by 1950s sister act Patience & Prudence, the "Welcome to Derry" credits confirm what we already know: things ain't right in Derry.

The credits are also loaded with fun little Easter egg callbacks to Stephen King's original novel. King's book is filled with a series of interludes, where librarian and amateur historian Mike Hanlon recounts the long, sordid history of Derry and reveals that the malevolent killer clown Pennywise has been around for centuries in one form or another. 

"It: Welcome to Derry" is drawing on several of these interludes for its story, so it makes sense that references to them would pop up in the opening credits. We see the Paul Bunyan statue that attacked Ritchie in "It: Chapter Two" (this also happens in the book), and there's a moment involving the spooky old house on Neibolt Street, a place where Pennywise hangs out when he's not out and about eating children. But that's just the beginning. 

The credits also include references that will be a bit more obscure if you haven't read the book. One features a group of people in an old timey car being gunned down in the street by a horde of Derry residents — including Pennywise himself, who is hanging out a window and firing a machine gun. This is a reference to the death of the Bradley Gang, a group of Bonnie and Clyde-like bank robbers from the Great Depression era. 

In King's book, we learn that in 1929 the Bradley Gang rolled into Derry to hide out from the law. When the good people of Derry found out about this, they set an ambush, and seemingly the entire town took up arms and shot the gang to death.

This is just one of the many ways King highlights how Derry is a violent, murderous town under the sway of Pennywise. Pennywise also joins in on the fun, shooting at the gang from various locations. This massacre also ties into the theme that Pennywise occasionally requires a big, grand sacrifice to satiate his hunger.

The other big callback in the credits features the explosion of the Kitchener Ironworks. This tragedy is actually briefly mentioned in the first "It" movie, where Ben comes across info about it while doing research in the library. King's novel, however, goes into far more detail. We learn there that in 1908, this factory mysteriously exploded over Easter weekend while a group of children were inside on an Easter egg hunt. 

The cause of the explosion remains a mystery, and King writes that 102 people were killed (88 children and 14 adults). The "Welcome to Derry" opening credits highlight this event by including children both bloody and on fire as they run from the building, as well as one unlucky person in flames while wearing an Easter Bunny costume.

The creators of "Welcome to Derry" have charted out a three-season plan that will keep jumping back in time to the various years Pennywise surfaced and started wrecking havoc, so it's probably safe to assume these events teased in the opening credits will be fully fleshed out in the future. They might even show up this season — only Pennywise knows for sure. And, uh, the people who write the show.