No joke! The young English actor who played Gally in The Maze Runner is seriously being considered for the role of Pennywise in the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel, IT. Will Poulter (pictured above) is currently negotiating a deal to play the memorable clown in the new adaptation. Pennywise was previously played by Tim Curry in the 1990 TV miniseries.
Variety was first to report the news earlier today. It sounds like Poulter is being eyed for not just one, but two adaptations of IT from New Line Cinema. The first IT film is expected to focus on a group of outcast teenagers who call themselves “The Losers Club.” They discover a young version of Pennywise and vow to destroy him by any means necessary. The second film will focus on the Losers when they’re adults. Twenty-eight years later, Pennywise resurfaces and the group reunites to defeat him.
At the moment, Poulter is the only announced cast member for the new IT films, the first of which being directed by Cary Fukunaga off a script co-written by Chase Palmer . Pre-production is currently underway.
About IT:
A promise made 28 years ago calls 7 adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that summer return as they prepare to do battle with the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers once more.
