The highly anticipated series inspired by Stephen King, It: Welcome To Derry, has finally arrived, and its debut episode shows no mercy. The stars and creators of the show break down the bloody premiere and explain why so few made it past the horrifying show’s pilot.

The first episode of It: Welcome To Derry’s showcased the graphic deaths of several characters who viewers believed to be the main protagonists of the series. The show opened with the death of Matty (Miles Ekhardt), who was trying to hitchhike out of town when he encountered “It”. Disguised as a kind family, he got into their car only to meet his demise.

Four years later, Matty’s acquaintances Lilly (Clara Stack), Phil (Jack Molloy Legault), Teddy (Mikkal Karim-Fidler), Ronnie (Amanda Christine), and Susie (Matilda Legault) join forces to solve the mystery behind his disappearance. However, to the shock of the audience, three of the five kids get killed off within the pilot.

The five children played a very significant role during the promotion of Welcome To Derry. Thus, it was obviously a surprise when Phil, Teddy, and Susie all died so quickly. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, one of the show’s creators, Andy Muschietti, admitted to playing with the viewers’ emotions. He stated that the idea behind luring fans into a false sense of security is to remind them that anything can happen. No one is guaranteed to survive the series.

This is strategically a devastating event to set the audience into that sense of ‘nothing is safe in this world.’ We kind of trick the audience into thinking that these are the new Losers. Well, guess what? I guess they’re all dead.

Welcome to Derry co-creator Barbara Muschietti chimed in, saying that she was proud of the bloodbath they created. She even compared Welcome to Derry’s pilot to an infamous episode of Game of Thrones, “We love it. It’s our Red Wedding.“

The Muschietti siblings revealed that they were initially concerned. They believed there was a very real chance that HBO might shut down their pilot because it was too violent. However, to their surprise, the studio was completely on board and didn’t even bat an eye at their ideas.

We went in [thinking] that will be the fight for us, we’re gonna have to fight to keep on pushing the horror and push the jump scares. It was the opposite.

Christine, who portrays one of the only survivors of the episode, recalled her initial excitement when she first read the script. She explained how she and the rest of the cast were all very thrilled and happy with the material despite knowing that many of them wouldn’t make it out of the pilot alive.

We were just like, ‘Whoa! This is how we’re ending things? Okay, let’s get into it!’ So it was definitely really fun to really endeavor also into my character, being the first time I’ve witnessed Pennywise and really felt him be present. That ending scene was just iconic. It’s a shocker.

Episodes of It: Welcome to Derry will release on Sundays at 9:00 PM ET and 6:00 PM PT on HBO.