Why It: Welcome to Derry’s Rudy Mancuso Didn’t Want Pennywise Death

Bill Skarsgård‘s debut on It: Welcome to Derry led to a bloodbath that killed off several key characters.

During the Sunday, November 23, episode of the hit HBO series, various characters found themselves in the infamous sewer on separate missions. But their appearance underground lured out one common denominator — Pennywise, the Dancing Clown.

Skarsgård’s first appearance as the killer crown confirmed that Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Phil (Jack Molloy Legault) and Susie (Matilda Legault) were killed before their bodies were left in the sewer.

Matty (Miles Ekhardt), who went missing in the pilot but somehow mysteriously returned later in the season, suffered the same fate, which was confirmed when Lilly (Clara Stack), Will (Blake Cameron James), Rich (Arian S. Cartaya) and Marge (Matilda Lawler) stumbled upon his body underground.

The newest death, meanwhile, was Pauly (Rudy Mancuso), who sacrificed himself to prevent friend Leroy (Jovan Adepo) from nearly shooting his son while under Pennywise’s trance. After his character died a hero, Mancuso, 33, spoke exclusively to Us Weekly as to why he preferred his onscreen death to a brutal murder at the hands of It‘s iconic killer clown.

“I didn’t have a dream Pennywise murder scenario because my mom would really suffer a lot when seeing that on screen,” Mancuso shared. “So a grounded death is better than a fantastical death. I’m thinking about my mom here and I don’t wish that upon any of my characters for the sake of my mom’s viewing.”

Mancuso was thrilled to get a chance to show a “very grounded” death.

“We see a lot of Pennywise deaths, which are a lot of gruesome and monster-esque supernatural character deaths and attacks. What we don’t get to see very often is a very grounded sacrifice made from a character,” he noted. “It’s happening in real life — within the context of the show. So it was nice to get a more humanized sacrificial death vs. a big supernatural one. I’m overall thankful that I got to participate in a more nuanced version of a death.”

Before leaving the show, Mancuso was “lucky enough” to see Skarsgård’s legendary transformation into Pennywise, telling Us, “I got to spend time with Bill outside of the shoot various times. He’s incredibly sweet, funny and generous. Then to see him in that full costume that haunted me for two films was really cool.”

Mancuso also found Skarsgård’s performance disarming.

“I was able to see the Bill outside of Pennywise but then as soon as those cameras are up and he’s in character, it’s triggering,” he admitted. “But it is a testament to his ability to truly transform.”

For some, appearing on It: Welcome to Derry would help them address their fear of clowns. Mancuso, however, went through a different journey during his time on set of the hour series.

“The wariness is persistent,” he told Us. “Even if the wall is broken and you see past the production, it doesn’t take away from the fact that that clowns are f***ing eerie and scary and Pennywise as a character is terrifying.”

It: Welcome to Derry airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET before streaming on HBO Max.