In the season finale of HBO's IT: Welcome to Derry, the spirit of young Rich Santos delivers a defiant middle finger to Pennywise in an unscripted moment. Executive producer Andy Muschietti revealed that this improvisation, along with Rich's resurrection, was added late in production to comfort viewers after the character's emotional death. The addition heightened the episode's tension and memorability.
The freshman finale of IT: Welcome to Derry featured a poignant and unexpected return for Rich Santos, played by Arian S. Cartaya, whose death in the prior episode had left fans reeling. As the Losers Club—Marge (Matilda Lawler), Lilly (Clara Stack), Will (Blake Cameron James), and Ronnie (Amanda Christine)—struggled to contain Pennywise within Derry's borders, Rich's spirit emerged from the afterlife to aid them. Running across the frozen river, he flipped off the monstrous clown, a gesture that amplified the scene's impact.
This middle finger was not part of the original script, according to executive producer Andy Muschietti. "We did a lot of improvisation in general, and that's one of the things we created on the day, or a couple of days before," Muschietti told TVLine. The idea for Rich's brief resurrection came to him in the final weeks of production. Drawing parallels to characters like Dick Hallorann, who can see the dead, Muschietti aimed to offer solace to the audience amid the loss of a beloved hero.
Though Muschietti conceived the gesture, Cartaya eagerly embraced it. "Since [Arian] is a phenomenal kid and a great actor, of course he was down," Muschietti noted. The improvisation eased the anxiety of the episode's climax, where the monster's crawl created palpable dread, made bearable by Rich's absence-turned-presence.
HBO has not yet renewed Welcome to Derry for a second season, but Muschietti envisions three seasons total for the prequel series.