All The It: Chapter Two Rumors And Spoilers Leaked So Far
It all started with a sneaky title card at the end of Andy Muschietti's It. Following the supposed defeat of Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise and the blood oath that ensued, the phrase "Chapter One" floated up onto our screens, confirming that the Dancing Clown would indeed return to the town of Derry in a sequel. Anyone who's read the source material could have predicted that a second movie would explore the adult lives of the Losers Club — and indeed, it turns out that this was the plan all along, but the news wasn't officially confirmed until after the film's release.
It: Chapter Two has a lot to live up to, as the first installment devoured the competition with a monstrous $700 million worldwide gross, becoming the highest-earning horror movie of all time. Critics loved it too, calling the first chapter of It one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made. Fortunately, we don't have to wait 27 years until Pennywise floats up from the sewers of Derry once again. Join us as we reveal everything we know about the It sequel so far, and beware...of spoilers.
When will It: Chapter Two be released?
Pennywise may have been forced to hibernate for 27 years in Stephen King's original story, but luckily for filmgoers, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. have announced that the Dancing Clown will return to screens when It: Chapter Two premieres on September 6, 2019, continuing the story of the Losers Club almost exactly two years after the first film's arrival.
Releasing It: Chapter Two in early September will help the film secure blockbuster audiences at the tail end of the summer season, just as they're looking for an alternative to the typical action fare. Jumping ahead of October will also reduce any competition from horror movies that are usually released around Halloween. This strategy worked exceptionally well for It: Chapter One, so it's easy to see why the studio hopes to replicate this success with the sequel.
Production for It: Chapter Two begins in July 2018, although several of the film's new cast members are already preparing for their roles. Actor James McAvoy hyped up fans about the start of filming with a punny Instagram shot from his trailer. Meanwhile, Jessica Chastain shared an image of her new, lopped-off hairdo which she dubbed "winter fire," as a reference to Ben Hanscom's poetic description of Beverly Marsh's mane. Muschietti had previously hinted that he and screenwriter Gary Dauberman were hoping to finish the screenplay for It: Chapter Two in time for a March 2018 start to pre-production, which is near to when the first names of new cast additions began to trickle in. Principal photography is expected to take place in Toronto, where large portions of the first film were shot.
Will the creative team remain the same?
It: Chapter One works as a standalone film, which Muschietti ensured by ending the script with his version of the "blood oath" scene, closing the book on the childhood chapter of the Losers Club and their fight against Pennywise. Everyone says goodbye to each other and to their own innocence, venturing forth alone into adulthood. However, Muschietti and his sister Barbara — who worked on the film as a producer — were aware that a sequel would be likely and prepared accordingly, teasing It: Chapter Two at the end of the first movie.
Fortunately, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. have kept the Muschiettis on board in the same roles. Dauberman is also back on scriptwriting duties, explaining to Slashfilm that it was hard not to think about a potential sequel while writing the first film. "You want to think about ways characters are going to go and all that stuff," said Dauberman, "just to make it feel like there's going to be a story beyond this movie, but that's as far as I've taken it." Now that the sequel has been greenlit, it made perfect sense to bring Dauberman back, helping to maintain consistency between the two chapters.
When will the story take place?
In Stephen King's original version of It, the childhood segment of the book took place over the course of 1957 and 1958, while the adult section renewed the fight against Pennywise 27 years later in 1984 and 1985. For the movie, Muschietti and his team decided to move the action in the first film to 1988 and 1989, capitalizing on '80s nostalgia while ensuring that the sequel could be set in the present day, bringing the story up to date in a way that's never been seen before.
Instead of wearing Airwolf t-shirts and watching A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child at the theater, the Losers Club will now be all grown up and It: Chapter Two will include modern-day references accordingly. That's presuming, of course, that there's even time to delve into the pop culture of the era while the Losers renew the fight against Pennywise.
Either way, it'll be interesting to see how mobile phones and other present-day devices impact the story. After all, if the sequel remains faithful to the book and Pennywise does terrorize each character individually upon their return to Derry, it would make sense for the Losers to literally call on each other for help, something that was never possible in previous versions of the story.
What will happen in It: Chapter Two?
It: Chapter One made a number of changes to Stephen King's original text, including the way the abduction of Beverly Marsh kicks off the third act, but for the most part, Muschietti and his team remained remarkably faithful to the book. With that in mind, it's possible to predict the basic plot of the sequel somewhat — although of course, it's difficult to tell how much of the story will be altered to incorporate the modern era.
Twenty-seven years after the Losers Club first banded together in childhood, the group has drifted apart after each member left Derry. Mike is the only one who remains, working as the town's librarian, and he's the only one who remembers what happened during their encounter with Pennywise. The rest have blocked this traumatic experience from their minds and found success in a variety of fields, including business and architecture.
After Mike asks the other Losers to return and finish what they started, each takes a walk down memory lane, reliving their original encounters with Pennywise before fighting him one last time in the sewers of Derry. Along the way, numerous spouses make an appearance — and the Club's old bully Henry Bowers returns to pose a very real and yet human threat, working in conjunction with Pennywise to kill each member of the club. While the details might change, it's likely that these are the basic plot beats we should expect to see unfold in It: Chapter Two.
The children will return in flashbacks
King's It novel shifts between the past and the present, creating a dialogue that connects its childhood and adult sections. To accommodate this, the films split the book in two, which meant It: Chapter One was dedicated solely to depicting the Losers Club as children. As a result, the adult versions of the characters will take center stage in the sequel, but that doesn't mean that the original cast won't return.
Speaking with Slashfilm, Muschietti revealed that he always found the kids' storyline "more interesting than the adults," but that he also felt that the dialogue between time periods is essential to the story. Because of this, Muschietti and his team will incorporate flashbacks into the sequel that will illuminate and clarify events we didn't see in It: Chapter One.
However, producer Barbara Muschietti revealed one pressing concern that could impact this approach— the kids may grow up too fast in real life. It shouldn't be an issue given the sequel's quick turnaround time, but any delays could make the flashback approach difficult — which would be a shame, as Andy previously told EW that the children are still "an important component in the next film."
Who will play the Losers Club as adults?
Andy Muschietti made no bones about the fact that he'd like to re-team with his Mama star Jessica Chastain in It: Chapter Two, with the redhead a shoo-in for the grown-up version of Beverly Marsh, and she certainly seemed to return the interest, even before the project got the full-fledged go-ahead. So it was little surprise to anyone paying attention when Chastain was the first casting addition to be announced for the sequel. Soon after, it was announced that Bill Hader would make Finn Wolfhard's casting dreams come true by starring as the elder version of his Richie "Beep Beep" Tozier, and James McAvoy was also quickly picked to star as Bill Denbrough, the big brother of the long lost Georgie who became an accomplished horror novelist and boasted a career with a striking resemblance to author Stephen King himself.
Also joining the fold for the new film are James Ransone as the Losers Club's resident hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak, Andy Bean as the poor soul that is Stanley Uris, Jay Ryan as the newly beefcaked version of Ben Hanscom, and Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, the Derry librarian who's tasked with bringing the club back together for one last stand against It. Those seven casting additions aren't the only important new faces in town, either.
Other dimensions
Sure, It: Chapter One included some odd moments, particularly when Pennywise broke out into dance, but things could have been a lot weirder if the source material is anything to go by. In Stephen King's original text, the horror veers into Lovecraftian territory at times, exploring the cosmic origins of Pennywise and a giant turtle god called Maturin who basically vomited up the universe. Nods to the turtle were spotted by eagle-eyed fans in the first film.
Easter eggs aside, all those psychedelic elements were avoided in It: Chapter One for the most part. The sequel will reportedly explore these scenes in more depth, building on the "deadlights" we saw in Pennywise's mouth to venture forth into new realms of weird.
Speaking with Yahoo! Movies, Muschietti explained that the story was kept more grounded in It: Chapter One because the children themselves knew very little about the threat they faced. As the audience's perspective is inextricably tied to theirs, it made sense to avoid introducing the concept of cosmic dimensions in the first film. However, there's also another more practical reason why the trans-dimensional nature of reality wasn't revealed in the first film — it would have cost too much. Muschietti explained that creating this world would "basically suck up half of our budget," potentially forcing him to sacrifice other aspects of the film.
Who will die first?
Anyone who's read past the first few chapters of Stephen King's It knows that Stan Uris kills himself after discovering that the threat of Pennywise has returned to haunt him in adulthood. Alert viewers may have also spotted a clue that foreshadows this tragic event at the end of It: Chapter One during the blood oath scene. After each member of The Losers Club promises to return to Derry if the need arises, the circle breaks and Stan is the first to leave. The second kid to part ways with the rest is Eddie Kaspbrak, who coincidentally is the second member to die before the Dancing Clown is defeated once and for all.
Actor Wyatt Oleff discussed the significance of this final scene with Slashfilm, explaining that the cut on his hand is directly connected to how his character dies as an adult. According to Oleff, Stan is "scarred mentally and physically," and out of all the children, he's the one who struggles to accept what's going on most. This is perhaps because Uris arguably came closest to dying at the hands of Pennywise in the first film, barely surviving the moment when It wraps its jaws around his head.
Producer Barbara Muschietti also commented on the heartbreaking choice that Stan will eventually make, telling Entertainment Weekly that "The thing about Stan is he doesn't bend, he breaks." Sadly, it seems that whoever ends up playing Uris as an adult on the big screen may not stick around for long.
Mike will have a darker story arc
Mike Hanlon is one of the strongest members of the Losers Club, fighting a daily battle against racism in the small town of Derry long before the shape-shifting clown floats up out of the sewers, and he's the only one who stays behind when the others leave. In King's book, this decision takes its toll on Hanlon, but Muschietti plans to step things up a notch and torment his character even further in It: Chapter Two.
By the time the others return to their hometown, Hanlon will have turned to drugs in his despair. Muschietti describes the character as a "junkie" in the sequel, but it turns out that his addiction also serves a vital purpose in the fight against Pennywise. In the book, younger versions of the Losers Club deliberately inhale fumes in a "smoke-hole" to learn more about their foe, but here, Hanlon's experience with drugs as an adult will alter his mind and help him to figure out how to defeat the ancient creature via the bizarrely named "Ritual of Chüd."
While some fans of the book may object to this change, Muschietti claims the idea is to infuse Hanlon's character with "more agency," providing him with a more important role during the gap where the rest of the Losers Club found success in their lives away from Derry.
Deleted scenes float down here
The theatrical version of It: Chapter One runs for 135 minutes in total, but even that cut of the film didn't represent Muschietti's full vision of the story. A set visit conducted by Collider revealed that two sequences were deleted due to budgetary concerns, but Barbara Muschietti hinted that the scene where white supremacists burn down the Black Spot nightclub could still appear in the sequel, declaring that it's "gonna be a great opening for the next film."
If Muschietti really does intend to incorporate deleted scenes in the sequel, then that means audiences could also see two more sequences that were previously left on the cutting room floor when It: Chapter Two is released. The first scene that was removed is an "amazing" flashback that depicts the first time Pennywise encountered humans hundreds of years ago, and the second is a dream where Bill Denbrough sees a bunch of balloons and dead body parts floating in the Kenduskeag Stream.
Early drafts of the script for It: Chapter One also included a scene set in colonial New England where Pennywise forced a mother to give up her own baby for It to devour. If Muschietti and his team are turning to the cutting room floor for inspiration, then flashbacks of this nature could also be folded into the script for It: Chapter Two, revealing more about the dark and sordid history of Derry and the town's relationship with the Dancing Clown.
A massive director's cut?
At over 1,100 pages long, Stephen King's It is one of his largest texts — and that's really saying something. This is one of the reasons it took so long for Hollywood to adapt the story successfully, and why Dauberman and Muschietti were forced to split it into separate movies. However, there's still a chance that hardcore fans could eventually experience the story as one glorious whole, just like King originally intended.
Producer Roy Lee told Collider in 2016 that once both chapters have been released, the two "could potentially then be cut together like the novel." While it's unlikely that a combined film of this length would ever be released to theaters, it's entirely possible that New Line could eventually splice the two movies into a four-hour director's cut on Blu-ray. If that's the case, then Muschietti could re-edit the films together so the story flips between the two time periods more regularly, keeping in line with the way King originally wrote the story.
Adrian Mellon will make for one toothy victim
Although many scenes from Stephen King's It did not make it into the first movie, the second installment will be a little more faithful to the page as it is expected to include the infamous Adrian Mellon scene. That portion of the story was not included in the 1990 TV mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's It, but in the book, Adrian Mellon and his partner, Don, are members of the town's local gay community. After attending the town fair, they're accosted by a group of bigoted bullies by the bridge. The mean teens cause Adrian a lot of damage in the skirmish and even throw him over the bridge into the shallow waters below. Little do they know, they've just issued him a death sentence because a hungry Pennywise lurks below and takes a bite out of Adrian's side. Don tries to tell the police what he saw, but the authorities are skeptical because Derry has apparently gone dark again, ignoring such signs of trouble despite so many cycles of violence in the history books.
It: Chapter One seemed to pay homage to the moment by way of an Easter egg — a balloon which read "I Heart Derry" on it, like the hat Adrian Mellon wears in the scene — but now we know for certain it will be included in It: Chapter Two, with Xavier Dolan coming in to star in the role. It'll be interesting to see how the scene plays with a more modern, media-frenzied present-day setting.
Beverly Marsh's mean husband will be in it, too
Not that there was much room for doubt, but it looks like Beverly Marsh's toxic adult relationship will become a feature of It: Chapter Two as well. In the book (and the 1990 mini-series adaptation), her relationship with husband Tom Rogan is emotionally and physically abusive, and he also takes ownership of and credit for her many talented works as a fashion designer. It's not until she gets that fateful call from Mike Hanlon that she's finally able to stand up to Tom and make her escape, but before that can happen, she endures untold trauma at his hands. His mistreatment of her is meant to bear some severe similarities to what she went through with her father, Mr. Marsh, in childhood. Stepping into the role for It: Chapter Two is Will Beinbrink, who'd previously worked with Chastain and McAvoy in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.
He's not the only Losers Club spouse to join the fold. Jess Weixler, who also starred in Eleanor Rigby, will reportedly star as Bill's wife, Audra Phillips, an actress and model who decides to follow him to Derry once he's summoned back into town and finds herself eye to eye with the deadlights. No word yet on whether Tom and Audra will have an encounter with one another, as in the novel version of the story, but count on both to contribute a great deal to the emotional depth of the story, for better and for worse.
Henry Bowers might be back from the dead, too?
In 2017's It, it sure seemed like Henry Bowers (as played by Nicholas Hamilton) was done for after he was thrown into the endless well at the Neibolt House by Mike Hanlon, and the movie didn't show him being fished out of the waters below or pegged as the scapegoat for all the child slayings of this generation as had been done in the past. However, there's reason to believe the bully might be back in action for the new film all the same. According to Variety, actor Teach Grant has been cast in the role of adult Henry Bowers, which means we may just see the patricidal maniac talk to the moon once more in It: Chapter Two after all.
In the book and 1990 mini-series adaptation, adult Henry is rendered relatively harmless as he rapidly ages in a mental institution after being placed there on belief that he abducted and killed little Georgie and the other lost children of his youth, but when Pennywise returns, he again reaches out to Henry to do some of his deathly bidding. In particular, he targets Mike Hanlon, against whom he still holds a racially charged grudge, and very nearly costs the librarian his life, which whittles down the Losers Club's offensive line even further before they can do final battle with It.
A big scary Bunyan
In August of 2018, fans of Stephen King's It received a major clue that at least one memorable book scene would finally make its way to the big screen in the sequel. Set photos from the Port Hope, Ontario shoot revealed a glimpse of Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise seated atop the giant Paul Bunyan statue introduced during It: Chapter One in the town square of fictional Derry, Maine.
The images seemingly confirmed that It: Chapter Two will include an adaptation of a scene from the book in which Richie Tozier is surprised by Pennywise, who transforms into the statue and taunts him with threats to infect him with a litany of diseases before Richie uses his vocal talents to escape an imminent attack by the clown. Whether the scene will feature Richie in adult form during the attack, as in the book, remains to be seen. The scene could also include a flashback to his childhood memory, in which he experienced a similar encounter after fleeing from Henry Bowers and his goons but wrote it off as a dream. Clearly, though, the inclusion of that statue in the first film — during a scene in which young Richie mentioned his biggest fear, no less — was much more than just a sly Easter egg for the King faithful.
Ritual of Whut
In It: Chapter Two, more of the metaphysical elements of Stephen King's novel are going to come into play, including the "Ritual of Chüd." Although the first film barely winked at the concept of the ceremony that sent the Losers Club into a fever dream-style encounter with the multiverse, the second film is now confirmed to include the strange scene.
Screenwriter Gary Dauberman explained to CinemaBlend that he and director Andy Muschietti decided to include the "challenging" section of the story because it was "such an important component to the book that we had to address it." Dauberman credits Muschietti with coming up with the right conceptual framework to capture the scene, which transports the audience to a realm in which the Losers can get some answers about how to defeat It once and for all. "Andy would kind of go off and think about Chüd and how he wants to visually represent all that stuff," he explained. "He just came up with some brilliant, brilliant stuff... It really is going to be amazing." Plenty of details clearly remain to be revealed, but it sounds like fans are in for a visually dynamic ride.
Prepare to feel
One of the biggest strengths of Stephen King's It — including the book and both of the adaptations to follow so far — is the story's ability to couple the ridiculous and unknowable nature of its central villain with the very realistic vulnerabilities and even triumphs of its kids, the Losers. After all, it's their deep connection and sense of unity that makes them too great a force for even the world's most ancient of evils to overcome, so the fabric of those feelings has to be well-threaded for the story to work.
To hear actor Bill Hader talk, that quality of character building will not be lost in translation for It: Chapter Two, either. He told IndieWire, "Andy Muschietti just... it's very great. It's really emotional," adding, "It's really scary, obviously, but I was surprised at how emotional it was." Considering the fact that Hader portrays the adult version of Richie Tozier, the comedic relief character who is arguably the least sensitive of the septet, that says a lot.
That restaurant scene will happen, too
Screenwriter Gary Dauberman has said that catching up with the Losers as adults in Chapter Two was something of a challenge for him to script, but while he might have found it "fun to tackle" the adaptation of this portion of King's version of the story for the screen, he assured fans that at least one memorable scene from that portion of the original story will be a big part of the reunion process again in the film.
"We see pieces of who they've become which I think is really exciting. Then of course it was great to see them return to Derry," he explained to SlashFilm. "The Jade of the Orient is such a defining and iconic scene in the book. That was something I remember as a thing I was writing towards. It was like, 'Okay, coming up is Jade of the Orient. That's going to be super cool.' It was a nice signpost to write towards which I dug." Fans will remember the scene as the one when the Losers first get together for dinner in at a Chinese restaurant, and it's a joyful celebration right up until the checks come with fortune cookies that contain some very sobering surprises that draw them right back into the horrors ahead of them.
A mysterious monster
Filmgoers might not know Javier Botet's face, but they certainly know his work. The Spanish actor has portrayed a great number of major movie monsters, including the Leper from It. Although it's unclear if he'll reprise the role of Eddie Kaspbrak's personal demon in It: Chapter Two, Botet is expected to continue his tradition of appearing in Andy Muschietti's movies with an expanded role in the sequel.
He told Bloody Disgusting, "I'm doing more things [this time ...] The first time I did a very little piece with the leper. In this new one, I'm doing more things. I'm sure it's going to be even more fun than the first if possible." While he didn't confirm whether that meant suiting up as the horrifying "hobo" again or embodying a different monstrous machination, he confirmed in a subsequent Instagram post that he'd spent time on set with several of the adult cast members, including James Ransone, who portrays the adult version of the hypochondriac the leper tormented so well in his youth. However, his chameleonic character history — which includes embodying everything from the eponymous Slender Man in the 2018 film to the toothy "Crooked Man" in The Conjuring 2 — proves he's definitely not beholden to any one role.
Expect to see some serious blood
If you thought Beverly Marsh was done being bathed in blood after the first film, think again. Jessica Chastain has revealed that her grown-up version of the character will also become drenched in the sticky stuff for a Chapter Two scene with a record-breaking amount of red. In February 2019, the actress appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and said, "It's more fun to be the scary person than the one being scared because when you're screaming — oh, I'm gonna say something and I think I'm gonna in trouble, but I'm gonna do it. It might be a spoiler, but in the movie there's a scene that someone said on set that it's the most blood that's ever been in a horror film... in a scene. And I'll tell you, the next day I was pulling blood out of my eyeballs. Fake blood."
Chastain didn't specify which scene all that prop blood was used in, but it's not hard to imagine at least one possibility. The first film (and mini-series before that) featured young Beverly's bathroom scene in which she was sprayed in the face by Pennywise in the sink, so there's a chance that she'll return to her childhood home and get another cruel coating in the same situation. And we know that she'll definitely go back to the place of her childhood torment.
Some audiences have already been introduced to Mrs. Kersh
At CinemaCon 2019, fans at the Warner Bros. panel got a sneak peek at a scene in which Beverly returns to the apartment she lived in with her father. In the footage, Beverly stops by her father's old home and meets Mrs. Kersh, a name which will sound very familiar to the King faithful. She's informed that her father has died and is offered tea and cookies. At first, she's impressed by how much cleaner it is than when she lived there, but things start to get eerie pretty quickly.
After finding the old postcard upon which Ben wrote his "January embers" poem, Mrs. Kersh says, "You know what they say about Derry. No one who dies here ever really dies." Beverly begins to notice things, like insects in the apartment, Mrs. Kersh's unusual conversational pause, and a figure in a family photo which bears a striking resemblance to Pennywise. The old woman eventually returns to torment her with the phrase "daddy's girl." In other words, one of the creepiest scenes from the book and mini-series will get some new but familiar life on-screen in the new film, too.
The runtime might be very long
The first chapter of It clocked in at two hours and fifteen minutes, but according to one rumor, It: Chapter Two might require fans to sit for quite a bit longer. An anonymous source on Twitter claimed to have seen the movie at a test screening and revealed that it was nearly three hours long.
"IT: CHAPTER 2 is almost three hours long. Pretty good but it needs work – the first is better. And that's all I'm saying lest WB sue me into an early grave," the user tweeted. That information has not been officially confirmed by the studio or talent involved in It: Chapter Two, but it would make sense for the second leg of the story to have an increased length due to the breadth of storyline that will be included, including the adults' return to Derry, flashbacks to their youth, and their brush with Maturin the galactic turtle.