It: Chapter Two Will Be ‘Very Different Experience’

Bill Skarsgard is ready to put the clown makeup back on and face some bigger kids in the sequel to last year’s horror epic.

With casting for It: Chapter Two hitting a fever pitch and just about all the adult versions of the Losers Club locked into place for director Andy Muschietti’s follow-up to last year’s horror blockbuster, Den of Geek had a chance to ask the man who plays the monster at the heart of the story, Bill Skarsgard — a.k.a. Pennywise the Clown, a.k.a It — where he was at in his preparations for the sequel.

“We’re gearing up for it now, so I’m sort of in the process of getting back into that character of Pennywise,” said Skarsgard on the line from Sweden, where he lives. “I’m sort of in the mindset and we’re gearing up for it. I think they start in July. I’m not sure exactly when my start date is, but some time this summer.”

Asked if he had been discussing the script and Pennywise’s evolution in the film with Muschietti, Skarsgard replied, “We’re figuring it out, you know…I have a very good relationship with Andy, not only as a director and actor, but also just as a very close friend, so we’re having fun with it and we’re figuring out what we’re going to bring to the table for part two.”

Skarsgard, who will also be seen later this summer in Hulu’s Stephen King-based Castle Rock series, added that he’s especially thrilled about the way the adult cast is coming together. “I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s going to be a very different experience this time around, just given the fact that you have all of these incredible, seasoned actors to play against, as opposed to having all the kids. So it’s going to be a different experience for sure. But I’m looking forward to it.”

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With Jessica Chastain starring as Beverly Marsh, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak, Andy Bean as Stan Uris and Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom, only the grown-up Mike Hanlon still needs to be cast.

It will be 30 years later when the Losers’ Club returns to Derry, Maine to once again confront the nightmarish creature that lurks beneath the city’s streets in the concluding chapter of the two-movie saga based on Stephen King’s epic novel. It: Chapter Two is set to arrive in theaters September 6, 2019.