Image courtesy of Everett Collection
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Cathal Gunning
Published 29 minutes ago
Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020.
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While It: Welcome To Derry episode 4 brought the Neibolt House back to the franchise, its importance may not immediately be clear to newcomers unfamiliar with Stephen King’s source novel and its movie adaptations. From It: Welcome To Derry’s opening scene onward, it was instantly clear that the series wouldn’t be over explaining its lore.
It took until It: Welcome To Derry episode 4 for the series to even start explaining the origins of Pennywise the Clown and, even then, he didn’t appear in the guise that most viewers recognize. Pennywise might be best known as a killer clown, but it was only in episode 5, “29 Neibolt Street,” that this version of the entity returned.
At the end of episode 4, “The Great Swirling Apparatus of Our Planet's Function,” Taniel tells Dick Halloran that Pennywise could be found near 29 Neibolt Street, prompting the army to raid the house in the aptly-titled “29 Neibolt Street.” Of course, Pennywise is a shape-shifting malevolent entity that doesn’t need a home, so the plan went disastrously.
The Neibolt House's Importance In It: Welcome To Derry Explained
Since Pennywise can seemingly appear anywhere in Derry and take any form it wants, it might be tough to see what function the Neibolt House plays in It: Welcome To Derry. Initially, the setting seems like a trap for the army, and it certainly serves that purpose when they arrive all guns blazing and assume they can trap Pennywise.
In much the same way, 2017’s It saw the kids track Pennywise to the Neibolt House, only to soon learn that finding the monster wasn’t the same as defeating it. However, the Neibolt House is more than just a way for Pennywise to lure his victims closer to them so he can attack them when they think they have the upper hand.
The Neibolt House also acts as something of a lair for Pennywise, since there is an old, disused well in its basement that links up to almost all the titular town’s sewer systems. Pennywise’s real home is in the sewers, but as It: Welcome to Derry’s Marge attack proved, the monster can materialize almost anywhere within Derry.
Does Pennywise Live Under The House On Neibolt Street?
Pennywise lives in the sewers, many of which terminate at the well beneath the haunted house of Neibolt Street. As such, the space could be considered his lair. That said, he seems to spend most of his time in an old carnival caravan in the sewers. This is where he stores the bodies of his victims in both movies, and where Dick first saw him.
Pennywise certainly spends a lot of time in Neibolt Street compared to other settings. After all, this disused home is where he attacked the army in It: Welcome to Derry, where he lured the kids in 2017’s It, where he attacks Richie in 2019’s It: Chapter 2, and close to the sewer where he killed Georgie.
However, It: Chapter 2’s Mrs. Kersh attacked Beverly at another location in the sequel, and Pennywise dragged Georgie into the sewers, rather than this empty home. Furthermore, Richie mentions that homeless people have slept in the house, implying it is sometimes safe for human habitation.
How The Neibolt House Connects To The It Movies
Neibolt Street house in in the opening credits of Welcome to Derry episode 2
Neibolt House is seen repeatedly throughout the It movies. In 2017’s It, as noted above, it is the setting of the first, failed showdown between the Losers’ Club and Pennywise. However, Mike also explains the location’s backstory, telling the group that Derry’s first 91 settlers disappeared without a trace shortly after the town was founded.
Their bloody clothes were found near the well, above which the Neibolt House was later built. In It’s climax, the Losers use the house to enter the sewer so they can save Beverly from Pennywise, and Mike pushes a possessed Henry Bowers down the well when he ambushes the group in the basement.
In It: Chapter 2, Pennywise kills a child to lure Bill into the house after him, and then psychologically toys with the Losers’ Club when they enter his lair. However, this sequence proves that Neibolt House isn’t Pennywise’s true lair, as the group eventually escapes the house and gets beneath it, into the sewers, where they find the monster’s real home.
What Happens To The Neibolt House In The It Movies
Pennywise smiling in It Welcome to Derry
In classic haunted house fashion, the Neibolt House collapses around the Losers’ Club when they defeat Pennywise at the end of It: Chapter 2. For all the It franchise’s devastating deaths, the Losers’ Club triumph over the killer clown in the second movie’s climax. The house falling apart shortly after its death implies the pair were linked after all.
As such, it is fair to say that the Neibolt House has a dark psychic link to Pennywise, and the house only remains standing due to its evil force. However, it wouldn’t be accurate to call the house Pennywise’s home, despite what It: Welcome To Derry episode 4 appears to imply, since the monster only uses it to lure victims in.
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It: Welcome to Derry
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Horror Mystery Drama Release Date October 26, 2025 Network HBO Directors Andy Muschietti Writers Jason Fuchs, Stephen King, Austin Guzman Franchise(s) IT
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Dick Hallorann with his eyes wide looking angry in It Welcome to Derry
Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise in IT Welcome to Derry trailer 2Image courtesy of HBO Max
Kid similing in IT Welcome To Derry
It: Welcome to Derry teens looking surprised at something off screen
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Is the Neibolt House truly Pennywise's lair, or just a trap to lure in victims?
Cathal
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29 minutes ago
Some viewers may believe the Neibolt House is Pennywise's actual home, given its frequent appearances and dark connection to the entity. However, others might argue it's simply a location he uses to ensnare his prey, with his true lair being the sewers and his carnival caravan. The house's collapse after Pennywise's defeat in It: Chapter 2 could support either interpretation.
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