It: Chapter Two is just around the corner, and still heavily anticipated despite some mixed early reviews on how the movie concludes its adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel. This may not be the end of the Muschietti siblings’ involvement with the property, though, as Andy Muschietti is apparently keen on making It: Chapter Three.
While this seems like a strange ambition, given how the book and presumably the film will end, apparently Muschietti sees some options for making it happen. Speaking in an interview with io9, the director had this to say about the prospect of taking the Losers’ Club, Derry and Pennywise into a new installment:
“There is a whole mythology to the book. Mythology is something that always has opportunities to explore. It has been on Earth for millions of years. He’s been in contact with humans for hundreds of years, every 27 years. So you can imagine the amount of material.”
Muschietti went on to comment that:
“It’s always exciting to think of eventually exploring this mythology. It’s very exciting. But, for now, there’s nothing on the table.”
Fans of the book know that there’s a lot of backstory to It as an entity, although given the long running time of It: Chapter Two, we imagine we’ll see a lot of these flashbacks in the new movie. Furthermore, expanding the mythology of King’s story could end up diluting the power of the source material. King has referenced Pennywise and Derry in other books, but doesn’t appear to be rushing to fully expand on the tale he told with the original novel.
Of course, if It: Chapter Two meets its box office expectations, and the various supercuts planned of the films do well, then it’s not inconceivable that Warner Bros. will want more from the material. In the meantime, though, Andy Muschietti will be kept busy by his work on a standalone The Flash movie, which needs a steady hand after several years of production problems.