Bill Skarsgard will play the evil clown Pennywise in New Line’s upcoming remake of Stephen King’s It. THR reports that the Hemlock Grove star is in final negotiations to join the cast, which already includes Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs and Jeremy Ray Taylor.
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Andy Muschietti (Mama) will direct the two part remake of the adaptation. Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg are onboard as producers.
It follows a group of teenagers called the Losers Club who defeat a creature simply referred to as “It.” The creature returns to plague the Club as adults, forcing the Club to reunite even though they have no recollection of the previous battle. Pennywise, a clown with monstrous teeth, is a form that It frequently takes. The remake’s first film will tell the story of the Losers Club’s initial encounter with It, while the second will chronicle It’s return.
The It remake was originally to be helmed by Cary Fukunaga, with Will Poulter playing Pennywise. Fukunaga left for creative reasons, pushing production back a year while New Line searched for a new director. The delay caused Poulter to depart from the project.
Jon Silk is serving as executive producer on the It remake, while Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter oversee for New Line.
Skarsgard is the son of Stellan Skarsgard – who plays Erik Selvigin Thor, Marvel’s the Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron – and is the brother of True Blood and Legend of Tarzan star Alexander Skarsgard.
