Bill Skarsgard will return as the terrifying Pennywise in TV series Welcome To Derry, a prequel to director Andy Muschietti’s It movies.
Bill Skarsgard, who brought his singular screen presence to the role of Pennywise the Clown in director Andrew Muschietti’s It movies, is to reprise the part in an upcoming prequel TV series. According to Deadline, Welcome To Derry (said to be a working title) will explore Pennywise’s origins in 1960s Maine. The show originally began production last May, but was delayed due to that year’s Hollywood strikes.
Andy Muschietti’s 2017 and 2019 films received critical praise and did big business at the box office, with plaudits going to Skarsgard’s commitment to Pennywise, with his performance switching seamlessly between low-key eeriness and over-the-top wildness. It also received praise for its tone, which veered from the typical Stephen King Stand By Me-esque coming of age story of Chapter One to the psychological horror of the gang as adults in Chapter Two.
Muschietti is returning as a creative force on the Welcome To Derry series, and will direct four of the nine episodes and write the story with producers Barbara Muschietti (his older sister) and Jason Fuchs. Roy Lee and Dan Lin, two other producers of the films, will also work on the series.
Skarsgard is currently the only actor from the films to reprise his role. Other cast members include Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and James Remar.
For any actor to follow in the footsteps of the great Tim Curry must have been nerve-wracking, but Skarsgard was the actor tasked with stepping up to the plate (replacing Will Poulter, who dropped out before filming), and he did so with aplomb. Curry’s eerie take on Pennywise the Clown in the 1990 TV adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel was a terrifying incarnation of the character. Incidentally, the terrific documentary Pennywise: The Story of It, which takes a deep dive into the miniseries, is currently available on Amazon Prime.
Welcome To Derry is being produced for HBO Max in the US. There’s no word on where the series will be shown in the UK, but we’ll keep you updated as we hear more.
