The fourth episode of IT: Welcome to Derry brings a chilling revelation as Dick Hallorann, portrayed by Chris Chalk, employs his psychic abilities—known as the “Shine” in Stephen King’s universe—to delve into the origins of Pennywise, the malevolent entity. This HBO series episode intricately weaves a controversial narrative thread from IT: Chapter Two with the foundational elements from King’s original novel, It.

**Warning: Spoilers ahead for IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 4, now available on HBO MAX**

In this episode, Hallorann is tasked with probing the mind of Taniel, played by Joshua Odjick. Taniel belongs to a local Indigenous community committed to keeping military forces away from Pennywise. As the nephew of Rose (Kimberly Guerrero), Taniel is also the bearer of ancient knowledge about the entity’s history.

Despite Taniel’s resistance, Hallorann’s psychic prowess allows him to penetrate Taniel’s mental defenses. Inside, Hallorann encounters a labyrinth of doors, each leading to distinct memories. One pivotal memory features a young Taniel, played by Tres Garcia, being tutored by Rose on their tribe’s lore about the Galloo, a fearsome creature residing in the forbidden Western Wood. This segment offers an immersive exploration of Derry’s Indigenous past, featuring performances by Morningstar Angeline as the war chief Sesqui and Kiawentiio as her bold daughter, Necani.

This narrative not only vividly reimagines the Loser’s Club’s vision of It’s arrival from King’s book but also enriches the existing folklore. From the final eerie glimpse of the Neibolt Street house to Hallorann’s unsettling presence, here’s what you need to know about the conclusion of IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 4.

IT: Welcome to Derry Episode 4 Ending Explained: What is the Galloo? Is That the House on Neibolt Street?

Yes, the Galloo is just Pennywise who is also just It. An extraterrestrial, ancient, shapeshifting being who crashed on Earth millions of years ago. The Loser’s Club kids have a vision of his arrival in the “Ago” in Stephen King’s novel and we see it play out, initially, the same here. What IT: Welcome to Derry adds is how Indigenous people found a way to live largely in balance with It by staying out of It’s territory and forging a mystical blade out of the meteorite stone that served as his cage when he fell to Earth.

What we then learn, though, is white settlers ignored the locals’ warnings and hunted in the Western Wood. It hunted them and grew stronger, threatening to escape the area for good.

“You know, Stephen King grew up in Bangor, Maine. Bangor, Maine is the Penobscot Country, Wabanaki Country. So he grew up with the natives of Indian Marsh and and the Penobscot River,” IT: Welcome to Derry star Kimberly Guerrero told DECIDER. “So the land remembers everything, even when we forget. That’s the ground Stephen King grew up on. There’s an energy to that. There’s a story that the land itself holds on to. And who’s to even say that that didn’t feed into this very creative young brain who is going to be a capital-s Storyteller?”

“So it was a real gift to get to work with this team on really opening up that part of the hidden engine of the horror and a lot of the King universe is this unresolved trauma —” Guerrero said.

“Childhood trauma,” James Remar added.

“Yes, of the people of the land and the land itself,” she said.

What IT: Welcome to Derry adds to King’s story is the idea that after Sesqui’s death, Necani and the other survivors came up with a plan to “cage” Pennywise in the Derry area by planting thirteen shards from his original meteorite prison around the area.

Guerrero was equally keen to dive into this and credited the production with their approach. “We worked very closely with John Bear Mitchell, our Penobscot elder, with the language and the history,” she said. “It’s something that I think the audiences will feel, even if we don’t go into deep, deep specifics, they’re going to feel that we knew what we were talking about. And we do.”

The story ends with Dick revealing himself to young Taniel in a creepy way that is all the more unsettling when you remember how gentle and kind he was to Daniel, or Danny, Torrence in The Shining. Dick makes Taniel give up one last bit of information, too. He asks him how to find these thirteen sacred shards.

Taniel leads Dick to another door and says, “Follow the tunnels under the old well and you’ll find the pillars.” Inside that room is the house on Neibolt Street from the original It book and films. The dilapidated structure hides the old well that leads to Pennywise’s sewer lair.

So now the military knows how to find Pennywise. Question is, should they still want to find him? (No. We’re just going to say it.)