For many, the terror of Pennywise the Dancing Clown began in 2017, when Bill Skarsgård donned the face paint and dragged poor Georgie into the sewer in Andy Muschietti ‘s It . For others, it started decades earlier, when Tim Curry bared a mouthful of fangs in Tommy Lee Wallace’s 1990 miniseries, Stephen King’s It . And for readers, it all began in 1986, when Stephen King ‘s original novel first hit bookstore shelves.

However, the lore of Pennywise runs far deeper than the sewers beneath Derry. The toothy creature is an ancient, shape-shifting evil, a malicious being who may hunt in the town of Derry, Maine, but whose roots reach far beyond Earth, into the cosmos itself.

Before It: Welcome to Derry hits the small screen, here’s the hidden history of Pennywise, everyt

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