As *IT: Welcome to Derry* advances, the number of recognizable figures keeps accumulating.

The latest among them is Ingrid Kersh (Madeleine Stowe), a worker at Juniper Hill who is secretly involved with Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), and whose significant surname we finally discovered in episode 5. In the *IT* films and Stephen King’s novel, Mrs. Kersh is an older woman who is visited by Beverly Marsh, ultimately revealed to be one of the creature’s various incarnations.

In the series, however, she seems to be a genuine individual. Episode 6 at last provides us with some intriguing new details about her.

So what actually unfolds, and what could it imply for her character?

What occurs in *IT: Welcome to Derry* episode 6?

A spiraling Lilly (Clara Stack) arrives at Mrs. Kersh’s home in episode 6, discovering black-and-white pictures from 1908 featuring a young Ingrid with a strikingly familiar man in a clown outfit.

“My father was a carnival performer,” Mrs. Kersh states, appearing unsettlingly thrilled at the notion Lilly has encountered IT. “He called himself Pennywise the Dancing Clown. I cherished him. And he was taken from me. The carnival moved on, but I remained in Derry. I suppose one could say I felt…drawn.”

In a black-and-white flashback, we observe a younger Mrs. Kersh meeting Pennywise – whom she believes is her father – while at Juniper Hill. Even when he devours a child in front of her, she doesn’t seem deterred.

“It was him,” Mrs. Kersh remarks. “Different, perhaps, altered by whatever he had endured, or wherever he had traveled. Oh, but it was him regardless. A daughter knows.”

But is she truly connected to Pennywise, or is there something else afoot here?

Is Mrs. Kersh genuinely Pennywise’s daughter?

The simple answer is no, most likely not. Pennywise is an ancient extraterrestrial being who revels in delving into the minds of humans and appropriating their fears and traumas as disguises. He may have drawn inspiration from Mrs. Kersh’s father for his clown name and persona, but it’s evident from his reaction to Mrs. Kersh referring to him as “papa” (confusion followed by laughter) that the connection exists solely in her imagination.

“Every time he returned, this shadow would whisk my father away,” Mrs. Kersh explains to Lilly. “I had to discover a way to liberate him. So I did what was necessary to see him again.”

What appears far more plausible than Mrs. Kersh being related to Pennywise is that the creature opted to employ her as a means to locate more children to nourish itself. From the book and films, we know that IT sometimes views vulnerable adults as pawns – it seems most probable that Ingrid is just another Henry Bowers.

New episodes of *IT: Welcome to Derry* debut Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.