IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 8, titled “Winter Fire,” skillfully wraps up Pennywise the Clown’s (portrayed by Bill Skarsgård) terrifying influence over Derry during the 1960s. At the same time, it paves the way for an even darker story to unfold. The HBO series concludes its first season with a dramatic confrontation on the ice, hinting at more Stephen King-inspired horror on the horizon.

Does the conclusion of IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 8 signal a potential second season for the HBO series?

**Spoiler Alert: Key plot points from IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 8 “Winter Fire” are discussed below, now available on HBO Max**

In the finale, our protagonists succeed in temporarily imprisoning Pennywise, ensuring Derry remains safe for another 27 years. However, it’s revealed that Pennywise might be plotting to travel back in time to thwart his eventual defeat by the Losers Club. He confides in Marge Truman (played by Matilda Lawler) that he perceives time differently—past, present, and future are intertwined. His end is also his beginning. Furthermore, Marge is not just any ordinary character; she is Margaret Tozier, destined to be the mother of Richie Tozier (portrayed by Finn Wolfhard/Bill Hader).

“We knew very early that Marge was going to be Richie’s mom,” shared IT: Welcome to Derry co-showrunner Jason Fuchs with DECIDER. “We wanted to establish clear connections to the original film and the Losers Club, as well as subtle links that become apparent as the season progresses.”

Pennywise tells Marge that he wants to kill her as a teenager to prevent her son from ever being born. When the dust settles after battle that ensues, Marge confides in Lilly, explaining she’s concerned Pennywise might go further back to target their ancestors or those of Richie’s friends. Lilly shrugs this off, saying that will be someone else’s fight.

Meanwhile, Rose (Kimberly Guerrero) asks the Hanlon family to take over her farm and join the circle devoted to protecting Derry from It. Charlotte (Taylour Paige) surprises Leroy (Jovan Adepo) by suggesting they do it and make this their joined fight. Thus, setting up Mike Hanlon’s (Chosen Jacobs/Isaiah Mustafa) as Leroy’s protege and the Derry history expert in the later It films.

As if that wasn’t enough to confirm that this story isn’t over, the show ends with the title card, “It: Welcome to Derry… Chapter One” and a post-credits scene revealing that an elderly Mrs. Kersh (Joan Gregson) comforted young Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) on the day her mother died in Juniper Hill.

So will there be an IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2? Have the showrunners and Muschiettis already figured out which Losers Club members’ parents, grandparents, or greatgrandparents might show up in future seasons? Here’s everything we know about IT: Welcome to Derry Chapter Two…

Will There Be an IT: Welcome to Derry Season 2?

HBO has yet to announce whether or not they’ll make a second season of IT: Welcome to Derry. That said, Jason Fuchs confirmed to DECIDER that he, co-showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, Andy Muschietti, and Barbara Muschietti already have a rough plan for three seasons.

“If audiences and HBO decide that there’s an ability to keep telling these stories, we certainly have more stories in our brains,” Fuchs said. “Andy and Barbara and Brad and myself had mapped out, sort of, a rough three-season plan in the context of writing, creating this show. So, we’ll see.”

Fuchs also said it was “too early” to share if we can expect future seasons — potentially focused on the Bradley Gang massacre in the 1930s or the Kitchener Ironworks Explosion of the 1900s — would include past Denbroughs, Kaspbraks, or Hanscombs in the mix. That said, he did confirm that there might be someone we can expect to return…

“We certainly have ideas about other groups of young people who’ve stood up to the darkness of It, in terms of other characters,” he said. “We’ve seen, obviously, glimpses of Ingrid Kersh in 1935 and in 1908, so there’s certainly room to revisit that character.”

Why Isn’t IT: Welcome to Derry Chapter One Just IT: Chapter Three?

Getting a wee bit confused by all the IT titles and what “Chapters” they represent and what linear order they’re in? Well, we asked Fuchs if there was a reason they called the first season of IT: Welcome to Derry “Chapter One” instead of just IT: Chapter Three.

“Before it was a TV show, we had a conversation about doing a third IT movie, in the context of a Pennywise prequel while we were making Chapter Two,” Fuchs said. “Really, in the post-production process, there was a pretty active conversation between Andy and Bill [Skarsgård] and myself about whether or not there was a third movie to be made that was a prequel.”

“So I don’t think we would have called it Chapter Three, but there was definitely some conversation.” Fuchs then joked this abandoned prequel film would have been “IT: Chapter Minus One.”