Bill, Ben, Bev, Richie, Eddie, Mike and Stan.
You know them, of course; together, they are the Losers’ Club, the outcasts of Derry who soon find themselves up against death incarnate: Pennywise the Dancing Clown. He – or, rather, It – is the Eater of Worlds and Destroyer of Dreams, and while the Losers successfully banished Pennywise to the depths of Derry’s sewers in 2017, Stephen King’s demented clown has spent the past 27 years plotting a resurgence.
And so, It: Chapter Two introduces us to Bill, Ben, Bev and the rest of the gang as adults, who must honor their blood pact and return to the scene of the (horrific) crime when Pennywise rears his big, ugly head once more. Chapter Two isn’t due until September, but thanks to Entertainment Weekly, today brings forth a slew of new images teasing two generations of Losers, along with a tantalizing snippet from director Andy Muschietti himself:
I think that everything that people love from the first one, like the humor and the emotions and the horror, will all be there… and cranked up, in some cases.
Out of the original Losers, Ben – played this time around by Jay Ryan – was the only one to stay behind in Derry after that fateful night 27 years ago. And sure enough, it seems Pennywise is returning with a thirst for vengeance. Or so says Bill Skarsgård, the man responsible for bringing our nightmares to life.
He’s scarier and he’s angrier. There’s a couple of very brutal things in the film.
Buoyed by the runaway success of Chapter 1 ($700M+ worldwide), Warner Bros. and New Line have scheduled It: Chapter Two for a familiar early September window, perhaps in the hope of catching lightning in a bottle once more. Whether that proves true will be told in time, but for now, we can sit back and admire the ensemble cast that Andy Muschietti has before him.