Pennywise Star Bill Skarsgård Is Currently Not Involved With the IT Prequel Series WELCOME TO DERRY
It franchise director Andy Muschietti is currently developing a prequel series for HBO Max titled Welcome to Derry. The project is a prequel to the Stephen King story, and fans have been wondering if Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgård would be returning to play the nightmarish killer clown.
Well, during a recent interview with Jake’s Takes, the actor revealed that he’s currently not involved in the series. He said:
“We’ll see what they come up with and what they do with it. I’m not currently involved in it. If someone else gets to [play Pennywise], my advice is to make it your own. Have fun with it. What I thought was so pleasurable about that character was how incredibly abstract he was. The book is really a gift that way.”
I hope that Muschietti asks Skarsgård to come back as Pennywise because he was so damn good in the role! He managed to bring that villainous character to life in a terrifying way.
The series is set in the world of King’s It universe and it expands on the story established by Muschietti in the feature films It and It Chapter Two. Jason Fuchs (It Chapter Two, Wonder Woman) will write the first episode and he also serves as showrunner along with Brad Caleb Kane. Muschietti will direct multiple episodes of the series, including the first episode.
The series “will begin in the 1960s in the time leading up to the events of It: Part One, the 2017 film based on the Stephen King horror novel. The story is also said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.”
King previously said in a statement: “I’m excited that the story of Derry, Maine’s most haunted city, is continuing, and I’m glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara. Red balloons all around!”
Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti said in a joint statement: “As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King’s It until the thick paperback fell to pieces. It is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our It movies. We can’t wait to share the depths of Steve’s novel, in all its heart, humor, humanity, and horror.”
Fuchs added, “To be able to return to the world of my all-time favorite horror novel and help build upon the singularly brilliant cinematic universe created by Andy and Barbara is more than the opportunity of a lifetime, it’s a dream come true— or, maybe more appropriately, a nightmare.”
When previously talking about mythology Muschietti said, “There is a whole mythology to the book though…Mythology is something that always has opportunities to explore. It [aka Pennywise] 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. It’s always exciting to think of eventually exploring this mythology. It’s very exciting. But, for now, there’s nothing on the table.”
There are some great terrifying stories to tell with this! That shapeshifting alien creature has been around in Derry killing people for a very long time.
It arrived on Earth in a massive cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, landing in a location in North America that would eventually become Derry, Maine.
Once people settled over this location, It adopted its usual pattern of a 27-30 year hibernation, waking to kill and eat. Each awakening and return to hibernation is sometimes marked by a violent act, such as a mass murder or weather event. In the period between, a series of child murders occurring in Derry are never solved. It is outwardly explained that a series of murders, no matter how gruesome, don't get reported if they happen in the small town. However, the real reason is that the influence of It prevents anyone from investigating too deeply.
Here’s the timeline for It, which features several stories that a prequel could explore:
1715 – 1716: IT painfully awakes.
1740 – 1743: IT starts a three-year reign of terror that culminates in the disappearance of over three hundred settlers from Derry Township (similar to the lost Roanoke Colony, which was founded as a logging town.)
1769 – 1770: IT awakes again.
1851: IT awakes when a man named John Markson poisons his own family, then commits suicide by eating a white nightshade mushroom, causing an excruciating death.
1876 – 1879: IT awakes, then returns to hibernation after murdering a group of lumberjacks who were later found near the Kenduskeag Stream.
1904: IT awakes when a lumberjack named Claude Heroux murders a dozen men in a bar with just one axe. Heroux was promptly pursued by a mob of townsfolk and hung.
1906: IT returns to hibernation when the Kitchener Ironworks explode, killing 108 people, 88 of whom were children at an Easter egg hunt.
1929: IT awakes when a group of Derry citizens ambushes and kills the Bradley Gang, a group of robbers and murderers. The town, including its police chief, pretends it never happened. However, a witness later recounts the tale to Mike Hanlon, including seeing a clown in farmer's attire participating in the slaying.
1930: IT returns to hibernation when the Maine Legion of White Decency, a Northern counterpart to the Ku Klux Klan, burns down "The Black Spot", a nightclub known to cater to African-Americans at the nearby army base. IT appears at the location as a giant bird with balloons on its wings.
This show has the potential to be awesome!