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world as it began to unravel. When the dad's head comes alive inside the jar, we used a practi- cal prosthetic made up of sliced head elements placed directly in the jar, which gave us incredibly valuable lighting and texture reference. A real glass jar was then thrown and shattered on the ground, with the prosthetic replaced in post by our CG version of the head, along with enhanced glass shards and liquid FX to elevate the moment. For the large-scale destruction beat, the FX team engineered a rig that could push entire walls of jars over, shattering them and spilling their contents. By shooting these events in separate passes, we were able to combine them in comp and achieve a sequence that feels largely practical, despite its scale. Whenever the actress needed to interact with the digital char- acter, we puppeteered the same prosthetic head on a stick. This served a dual purpose: providing a strong eyeline for performance, and physically interacting with the pickles and fluids on the ground. That practical interaction became invaluable reference, allowing us to extend and enhance the performance digitally rather than build it entirely from scratch. Can you talk about some of the specific tools or techniques you called upon to complete the VFX? Daryl Sawchuk: Our approach to large-scale environments relied on a combination of roundshot panoramas, drone plates, and LiDAR scans, which gave us the data needed to accurately recreate and ex- tend the world. For the mutant baby car sequence in Episode 1, we used an ar- ray camera system to capture driving plates that could be stitched together and played back on an LED volume wall, allowing for fully interactive lighting and reflections during the interior shots. We also conducted a dedicated three-day FX elements shoot, capturing a wide range of practical fire that served as the foundation for the burning of the Blackspot in the penultimate episode. Those real-world elements became an essential base layer that we could build on and enhance digitally. Beyond the tools and techniques, the work ultimately came down to an enormous team effort — a global group of VFX artists contrib- uting countless hours to bring everything together. It was a massive a p r i l • m ay • j u n e 2 0 2 6 c g w 1 1 undertaking, and that collective effort is really what made the scale and complexity of the series possible. The battle in the finale is an iconic sequence. Can you tell us more about the VFX work that helped create and enhance it? Daryl Sawchuk: The "Final Fog Battle," as we came to call it, needed to deliver an epic conclusion — showing It at its most powerful. The storm Pennywise conjures to engulf Derry in fog and snow, allowing him to traverse the frozen Penobscot River and attempt to free him- self from the cages that have held him for centuries, had to feel im- mersive, overwhelming, and dangerous. Early on, building on what we learned from the Blackspot fire se- quence, we collaborated closely with the SFX team to fill a massive soundstage with as much practical fog as possible. This gave the DP, Dani Vliar, the ability to light the environment in a way that naturally obscured visibility and grounded the atmosphere in-camera. As the shoot progressed, and we pushed toward the edges of the stage, however, the illusion began to break — we'd pick up blue screens, lighting rigs, and crew. With limited time to constantly reset, it meant that virtually every shot required some level of VFX intervention. The scope of the sequence also expanded significantly in post, ul- timately tripling in size. To manage that scale, we developed a work- flow that allowed two vendors to work simultaneously, sharing the same FX elements — fog, snow, and environmental simulations — to maintain a consistent look across the sequence. From there, the creative work really opened up with Pennywise's transformations. We explored a range of moments — from his head being violently destroyed and regrowing in a diminished form, to a brief, eerie Deadlight interaction with Leroy on the ice, and finally his climactic evolution into a bird-like manifestation. Each beat required detailed creature FX work to push the sequence into something both terrifying and operatic. The finale culminates in a massive burst of light as the dagger is returned to its rightful place, reactivating the cages that have im- prisoned It for centuries. In that moment, all of Pennywise's various forms begin to peel away — shedding the identities it has assumed throughout the series — before collapsing back into pure light and being drawn once again into its cage.