'Welcome to Derry' Fans Have a Theory About Matty and the Iconic Clown's Connection

The first episode of the HBO show It: Welcome to Derry features the first mysterious disappearance of a local kid. In this case, his name is Matty, and he comes from a pretty miserable family.

Of course, the writers had to make it even sadder by giving him a fate that involves being killed by Pennywise.

But some fans believe there may be more to Matty than what initially meets the eye in the first episode of the It prequel series. Some think that Matty is actually Pennywise in Welcome to Derry.

The fan theory would mean that Pennywise's origins are intertwined with Matty and that the series could show the famed horrific clown as a child.

But how accurate would that be to Pennywise's actual origin story?

At the beginning of the first episode of Welcome to Derry, Matty tries to hitchhike and leave Derry. But when he gets in a car with someone he believes wants to help him, apparently, it's the work of the demonic Pennywise entity.

Viewers learn this when a demonic baby comes out of a pregnant woman and either kidnaps or kills Matty. His fate is uncertain at this point.

Because of that, some fans have wondered if Matty is Pennywise and vice versa. The idea is that, maybe whatever demonic energy is inside the winged demon baby goes into Matty and creates Pennywise. In the book that the original movies are based on, Pennywise calls itself the human name Bob Gray, which has led some to wonder if that's an indicator of a human background or origin story.

That could be why some believe Matty might be Pennywise, or that he might turn into Pennywise. In It, Pennywise eventually takes on the form of Georgie in order to lure Georgie's older brother and kill him, so it's possible that Pennywise might appear as Matty at some point in the series.

But if the theory turns out to be true, it would be a wild deviation from Pennywise's origin story.

Horror legend Stephen King created the original It novel on which the movies and now TV show are based. And, although some of his novels have had demons or even humans as the evil entities that everyone has to escape, he has written about otherworldly creatures before — aliens. And, at the heart of Pennywise's origin story, we have aliens.

In the It book and movies, Pennywise is described as an alien from somewhere outside of the universe. He can shapeshift, which explains his ability to turn into other people or sound like them. Pennywise was likely never a human. He has taken the form of the clown for decades and seems to prefer that to trick kids in Derry.

But there has never been evidence in the It universe to suggest that he was a child at some point in Derry.

Per a TikTok about Pennywise's origin and his possible enemies, one thing that has helped the kids over the years is a giant space turtle named Maturin. The creature is also in the book, and in Welcome to Derry, turtles play a large role in the town. It's possible that this batch of Losers will get help in defeating Pennywise in some way.

Watch It: Welcome to Derry on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.