TVLine's Performer Of The Week: Bill Skarsgård

THE PERFORMER | Bill Skarsgård

THE SHOW | HBO's "IT: Welcome to Derry"

THE EPISODE | "The Black Spot" (Dec. 7, 2025)

THE PERFORMANCE | Bill Skarsgård's ability to scare the bejesus out of us is well-documented. He's done it in "Castle Rock." He's done it in "Nosferatu." He's even done it as Pennywise before, bringing the dancing clown to spine-tingling life in both "It" and "It Chapter Two" on the big screen.

And though Sunday's "Welcome to Derry" episode reaffirmed Skarsgård's talent for terrifying, it also showcased his formidable dramatic and comedic — yes, comedic! — range.

The hour opened with a flashback to 1908, where carnival performer Bob Gray (Skarsgård) put on short, wordless stage shows as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, to the glee of children in the crowd. We were as tickled as the carnival goers to watch Bob perform as this decidedly more innocent version of Pennywise, with Skarsgård contorting his face into delightfully over-the-top expressions and stretching every inch of his tall frame to get a laugh. Even Pennywise's signature dance — normally quite haunting — felt youthful and benign with this newly introduced version of the clown.

Later, when Bob's daughter, Ingrid, revealed a clown get-up of her own that she'd been perfecting, Skarsgård brought a previously unseen tenderness to the proceedings, using every moment of Bob's short backstory to convey warmth, love for his child, and passion for performing. After knowing Bob for only a few scenes, we were duly disappointed to learn he got killed by the evil lurking in Derry's woods, currently taking the form of a young boy looking for his parents. And yet, even in the lead-up to Bob's demise, Skarsgård's line readings opposite the boy were surprisingly funny. ("I can't find my parents," the child said. "Me neither. They're dead," Bob answered, disarmingly deadpan.)

Of course, Skarsgård's most memorable work in the "It" franchise will always be his bone-chilling scenes as Pennywise's evil incarnation, and we got plenty of that in this episode, too. Pennywise showed up at the present-day burning of the Black Spot, and Skarsgård wrung jolly menace out of every syllable his clown spoke. "Hello, Dicky," he taunted Dick Hallorann, currently plagued by visions of walking corpses. "What's the matter? Seeing things? Oh, I think they see you, too!" We were frightened, and yet we were in awe.

If we lived in Derry, surely we'd avoid Pennywise at all costs. But when Skarsgård embodies him with such playfully sinister commitment, we can't help hoping he'll crawl out of the sewers once more.

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!