It has been 26 years since the made-for-television film, Stephen King’s IT, first aired but its popularity has seemingly never waned. The long awaited remake of the film has finally gotten a successor to take over the villainous role that Tim Curry made famous: Pennywise the Clown.
Curry has been universally praised by fans and it’s likely that many will be bummed out that a now 70 year old Curry will not return. The role is being taken over by Bill Skarsgard (son to Stellan and younger brother to Alexander). Skarsgard’s biggest roles to date have been in The Divergent Series’ Allegiant and the upcoming Ascendant along with the Netflix series Hemlock Grove.
It’s no doubt that Skarsgard will have some big shoes to fill as Pennywise. Curry was phenomenal in the role and was by far the best thing about the two part film along with the child actors in the first half.
For those not familiar with the novel or made-for-TV movie, it’s about a group of seven children, dubbed The Loser’s Club, who unite to take down supernatural child killer, Pennywise the Clown AKA IT, and return once again as adults when IT returns.
The novel and the film are actually quite different as the former is understandably far more raw and brutal than the latter. The remake has been long rumored but it finally appears that it will be moving forward. In a perfect world, the new film will hopefully be able to honor the book more while still delivering the charm of the 1990 film. Both versions of the story are definitely worth checking out regardless.
This upcoming adaptation is being helmed by Mama director Andres Muschietti and will be split into two films. The first will focus on the children and the second on the adults. The first part of Stephen King’s IT currently has a release date of September 8th, 2017.
