IT: WELCOME TO DERRY Star Taylour Paige Wasn’t Happy With Her Character’s Big Finale Decision - "There’s No F*cking Way"
When It: Welcome to Derry kicked off, longtime fans already knew where parts of this story were headed. The series fills in key history from the It mythology, including the roots of the Hanlon family and how they end up tied to Derry forever.
What viewers didn’t expect was a finale choice that felt wildly out of step with one of the show’s strongest characters. As it turns out, Taylour Paige felt the same way.
From the start, the show establishes that Will Hanlon, played by Blake Cameron James, is destined to become the father of Mike Hanlon, one of the Losers Club members we meet later in the It timeline.
Will’s parents, Charlotte and Major Leroy Hanlon, move the family to Maine because of Leroy’s military assignment. Charlotte, portrayed by Paige, quickly emerges as someone with strong instincts and a deep awareness of the ugliness simmering beneath Derry’s surface.
Those instincts only sharpen as the season unfolds. Charlotte voices what others won’t, especially after the Black Spot tragedy. She recognizes that Derry itself is a monster, one fueled not just by Pennywise’s influence but by very real human cruelty.
Racism and violence are baked into the town’s history, and Charlotte sees it. When her son Will is abducted by Pennywise along with many of Derry’s children, that understanding becomes personal. Will survives, but the trauma lingers, and as anyone who knows this story understands, Pennywise always comes back.
Earlier in the season, Charlotte is firm about wanting to leave. Her priority is her son’s safety. Leroy can follow once his classified mission wraps up. It all lines up logically, especially once Leroy receives his honorable discharge in the finale episode, “Winter Fire.” Leaving Derry totally makes sense.
Yet in the final moments, Charlotte makes a sudden pivot and she decides the family should remain in town and buy Rose’s farm. It’s a decision that feels very strange given everything the show has established about her character. Paige didn’t hide her frustration with that story element.
“I’m not happy with the way this was written, if I’m being honest,” Paige told Deadline. “I’m like, ‘There’s no f*cking way.’ I mean, I guess the lore is that you forget when you’re in Derry, but I don’t buy it.
“I guess, maybe it makes sense for 1962 that you kind of shut up and you get back to business, you get back to being a homemaker, and you’re the nucleus of the family, I guess.”
Paige does acknowledge the historical reality the show is working within, even if it still doesn’t sit right.
“But still, I wanted more for Charlotte and this family, but I think it would have been maybe too radical for Charlotte to leave. And also too radical for women of 1962 to be like, ‘I’m out.’
“That was very rare. It just didn’t really happen then, right? Most people stayed in loveless marriages. Most women, I think, were martyrs [who] had to deny themselves to keep the family together.”
Throughout the season, we see Charlotte repeatedly swallow her own desires for the sake of keeping the peace. Leroy, played by Jovan Adepo, urges her to keep her head down rather than speak out, even though she has a proud history tied to the civil rights movement.
What makes the finale choice more frustrating is that in “Winter Fire,” Leroy and Will are both fine with leaving. Charlotte is the one who pushes to stay.
Yes, fans understand the larger It mythology and why the Hanlon family ultimately needs to remain in Derry for future events to unfold. But character wise, emotionally, and logically, it’s a tough sell. Charlotte choosing to stay in Derry after everything she’s seen and endured just doesn’t track.