Bill Skarsgård is back as Pennywise for IT spin-off TV show so get ready for more nightmares

The eater of worlds is back!

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He’s back! It’s official, afterpreviously stating he is not involved, Bill Skarsgård will reprise his role as Pennywise the Clown in HBO’s upcoming IT spin-off series based on Stephen King’s hit novel and its 2017 and 2019 movies.

According toDeadline, Skarsgård is set to star in and executive produce theHBOMax show which will serve as a prequel to the newer movie adaptations. The show currently has a working title Welcome to Derry.

The actor is reprising the title role as the shapeshifting, demonic clown that he played in the hit movieITand its sequelIT: Chapter Two, which brought to life King’s iconic 1986 novel. Set in Derry, Maine, the first movie follows a group of kids known as the Losers Club who battle against a child-eating demon who takes the shape of a clown. The second movie revisits the group 27 years later after the clown is resurrected and sees the group return to Derry to defeat Pennywise once again.

To fan’s delight, HBO later shared the news themselves onTwitterwriting,  “Just when you thought your nightmares were over… Bill Skarsgård has been cast in the Max Original Series Welcome to Derry (working title), reprising his role as Pennywise from It and It Chapter Two.”

The series also sees Skarsgård reuniting with other team members from the movies such as director Andy Muschietti, producer Barbara Muschietti, and co-producer Jason Fuchs, who have developed the story for the TV adaptation based on King’s novel. Andy Muschietti will direct four episodes of the nine-episode series.

An official synopsis for the series has not yet been revealed, but we do know that it will be set in the ‘60s and lead up to the events of the first film which was set in 1998. We presume as the clown famously surfaces every 27 years, that the series will take place during the year 1961 and explore Pennywise’s previous reign of terror before he met the Losers Club.

Alongside Skarsgård, the cast includes Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and James Remar.

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Welcome to Derry is expected to hitHBO Maxsometime in 2025. For more, check out our list of thebest horror movies, or keep up to date withnew TV showscoming your way.

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for SFX and Total Film online. I have a Bachelors Degree in Media Production and Journalism and a Masters in Fashion Journalism from UAL. In the past I have written for local UK and US newspaper outlets such as the Portland Tribune and York Mix and worked in communications, before focusing on film and entertainment writing. I am a HUGE horror fan and in 2022 I created my very own single issue feminist horror magazine.

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