It: Welcome To Derry's Season 1 Finale Includes A Nod To Stephen King's Carrie

The "It: Welcome to Derry" finale was the series at its best and worst, wrapping up season 1 in a satisfying way while also falling prey to fan service and some dodgy plot machinations. If you happen to be a Stephen King fan, though, you probably loved a lot of what you saw. Like the rest of the season, the final episode was packed with easter eggs, callbacks, and references to the author's wider work, which overall made "Welcome to Derry" crucial viewing for King fans. But those fans might not have picked up on every reference. Did you, for instance, catch the "Carrie" influence in the finale episode's opening scene?

From the outset, "Welcome to Derry" was designed to expand the world established by the 2017 "It" movie and its 2019 follow-up "It Chapter Two." But rather than simply providing a backstory to It and Pennywise, the series creators set out to introduce mass audiences to more arcane aspects of King lore. That's why you'll see multiple turtle allusions, which reference the great cosmic being known as Maturin (yes, a giant turtle is the hero in the King meta-narrative).

One of the less arcane but similarly subtle references came in the finale episode when Pennywise gathered the helpless students of Derry High School in the auditorium before hypnotizing them all with his Deadlights and abducting them, eventually leading them all towards a magical tree (again, the finale was sort of dodgy plot-wise). That scene in the auditorium, however, was far from dodgy, opening the episode with a delightfully twisted vignette that saw the school principal beheaded in the most gruesome way possible before a crowd of terrified teens. All of which was, according to co-creator and showrunner Jason Fuchs, "100% inspired by 'Carrie.'"

1974's "Carrie" was Stephen King's first published novel and the story that launched his career. As such, it's only right that "Welcome to Derry" contain a nod to the tale that started it all, especially since this is a show that's so packed with King easter eggs that even the opening credits are a treasure trove of references to other stories.

In that inaugural King novel (and Brian De Palma's 1976 adaptation, which King actually preferred), we follow 16-year-old Carietta "Carrie" White as she navigates high school as an outcast. She's regularly taunted by a popular girl named Chris Hargensen and her group of friends who make Carrie's life miserable. One of the girls, Sue Snell, feels bad and asks her boyfriend to invite Carrie to prom, where she's ultimately humiliated by Chris and her gaggle of haters when they dump pigs' blood on her head. Of course, they all face grave consequences when Carrie traps most of them in the school gymnasium and sets the building on fire. After Chris escapes, Carrie dispatches her and her boyfriend by sending their car careening into a wall.

In "Welcome to Derry," we get an analogue of this dynamic. Maya McNair's Patricia Stanton, Hannah Storey's Rhonda Chamber, and Maya Misaljevic's Elaine Morrison all belong to a popular clique of girls known as the "Patty Cakes," who make life a nightmare for Clara Stack's Lilly Bainbridge and Amanda Christine's Veronica "Ronnie" Grogan. Matilda Lawler's Marge Truman is desperate to be accepted by the Patty Cakes but feels bad for hurting Lilly, mimicking Sue Snell's story arc from "Carrie." What's more, just like in King's first book, the popular girls all meet a horrifying fate during the climax of "Welcome to Derry."

In early episodes of "It: Welcome to Derry' season 1, we see Patricia Stanton and her Patty Cakes taunting both Ronnie and Lilly, while Marge does her best to ingratiate herself to the clique while trying to maintain a connection with Lilly. As the show goes on, Marge eventually repudiates the popular girls, who in the final episode gather in the school gymnasium along with the majority of Derry High School students after they're summoned by Pennywise mimicking Principal Dunleavy's voice. Once there, they witness a grotesque puppet show wherein Pennywise controls the lifeless body of Dunleavy before ripping his head off and traumatizing the stunned students, including Stanton and her gang, who take the brunt of Dunleavy's blood spatter.

Once the crazed clown unleashes the Deadlights — a glimpse of It's true form that drives onlookers insane — Stanton, Rhonda Chamber, and Elaine Morrison all fall into a trance and are abducted by Pennywise. They do ultimately escape death, but they still go through hell and according to show co-creator Jason Fuchs, that was all designed to evoke the spirit of "Carrie."

In an interview with Deadline Fuchs was asked about the "Carrie" connection, saying the gymnasium scene in the finale was "100% inspired by" Stephen King's first novel. "There's an ode in the construction of that scene," he continued, "in the sense of the Patty Cakes getting their comeuppance for what they've done to Marge Truman and tried to do to Lily Bainbridge. And so yeah, no, although this is very much an 'It' story, there are nods to other Stephen King mythology throughout the entire piece."