IT Chapter 2 will make a major change to the book
Though Chapter 2 of the adaptation of Stephen King's creepy clown novel IT hasn't officially been green lit, after the first part's box office-busting opening weekend it's surely just a case of finalising the details before the project gets moving.
According to producer Barbara Muschietti, writing and development is already under way for the sequel, which will focus on the reappearance of Pennywise in Derry 27 years later.
The young cast from the first film will return in flashback, but the action will focus on grown up versions of the Losers' Club. No casting has yet been announced for the adults.
Speaking to EW, director Andy Muschietti revealed some tantalising details about his take on the sequel, which includes at least one significant change to the book.
It relates to Mike Hanlon, the bullied, home-school black kid, who is the only member of the gang to remain in Derry after they defeat Pennywise the first time.
"My idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book," says Andy. "I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him.
"I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he's a wreck."
In King's novel, Mike is a librarian (but not a junkie) and the one to contact the other members of the Losers' Club when he sees evidence that Pennywise has re-surfaced, acting as a sort of gatekeeper in Derry, while the others have moved away and forgotten the details of what happened to them. In Andy's film though, he'll have more agency and impact on the action.
"He's not just the collector of knowledge of what Pennywise has been doing in Derry," he explained. "He will bear the role of trying to figure out how to defeat him. The only way he can do that is to take drugs and alter his mind."
In the original novel the two timelines are intertwined, and while the first part of IT just featured the story of the kids in the '80s, part 2 will include meaty flashbacks to the kids as well as the adults' timeline.
"On the second movie, that dialogue between timelines will be more present," says Andy. "If we're telling the story of adults, we are going to have flashbacks that take us back to the '80s and inform the story in the present day."
But as his sister Barbara points out, they're both keen to get on with it before the kids get too old.
"The hope is we'll find the best way soon, because it's also important for Andy to get flashbacks with the kids, who are growing very fast," she says. "They are an important component in the next film."
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