It's been a while since the It sequel was confirmed [1] (and titled It: Chapter Two), and there are a lot of things to figure out before the next part of the story comes to life.
Sure, we were all wondering when it would eventually hit cinemas [2] and what the plot would be [3], but die-hard fans of the novel know that there's one piece of business that needs to be attended to first: the cast. As we move forward, the most important detail [4] is a huge time jump; we're going to leap forward 27 years, when Pennywise returns and all the "Losers" have grown up and moved away (except for Mike Hanlon, who stays behind as a librarian in Derry).
With such a big temporal leap, we were always going to need adult counterparts for each of the seven kids we meet in the first film. We even had some pretty strong opinions [5] about casting, but obviously, Hollywood seems determined to pave its own way. It's fine. Check out who's in so far!
Jess Weixler as Audra Phillips
The Son actress is on board to play Bill's wife, Audra, who's a model and actress. She accompanies her husband back home to Derry and has a few nasty run-ins with Pennywise herself.
Andy Bean as Stanley Uris
Bean will play the ill-fated adult version of Stanley Uris [6]. For those of you not familiar with the books, Stanley doesn't factor into the adult story for long since he's so scarred by everything he experienced as a child.
Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh
Chastain was always a pretty solid guess when it came to adult Beverly. After all, she worked with It director Andy Muschietti on the 2013 horror film Mama. There's also the fact that Muschietti said he already had Chastain in mind [7] for the sequel back in September 2017, and Chastain even expressed interest in taking on the role. In February, she was as good as locked in [8]. Talk about a perfect storm of circumstances!
Bill Hader as Richie Tozier
Hader comes a bit out of left field, but we could totally see him taking on the role of loud-mouth Richie Tozier. And that's who he's reportedly set to play [9], according to the latest news from The Hollywood Reporter. In the story, Richie is a wise-cracking disc jockey, which is not far off from how he is as a kid. And, I mean, we can kind of see the resemblance to Finn Wolfhard [10]. If we squint.
James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak
Ransone joins the project as Eddie Kaspbrak [11]. As an adult, Eddie owns his own limousine company. Because of his neurotic mother's nagging, he's turned into an equally nervous and neurotic adult. Poor guy.
James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough
In April, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that McAvoy is in negotiations [12] to take on the role of our lead hero, Bill Denbrough. As an adult, Bill is a novelist who pens horror books for a living. McAvoy definitely has some horror chops: he did an incredible job in 2017's Split [13], which was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. We're into it.