We all float: Everything we know about the Losers’ Club in ‘It: Chapter 2’
Warner Bros. has shared an exciting first picture of the main cast of It: Chapter Two with the actors depicting the grown up versions of the Losers’ Club gathered together in a fun pseudo-enactment of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. It only looks to be a table read rather than a glimpse of the cast in character & costume, but the picture still provides a intriguing dynamic of the cast’s playful chemistry together. Something they’ll need if they’re going to defeat Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) for good this time.
From left to right we have Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh who was previously played by Sophia Lillis in Chapter One. Stood up next to her is James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, originally depicted by Jaeden Lieberher, and sat down next to him is Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon, played by Chosen Jacobs in the first film. Next we have Jay Ryan as Ben Hanscom, previously played by Jeremy Ray Taylor, and then James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak, formerly portrayed by Jack Dylan Grazer. The ever wonderful Bill Hader is sat at the end of the table and is continuing the portrayal of Richie Tozier from Finn Wolfhard, while Andy Bean is at the very end of the row and is playing Stanley Uris, originally played by Wyatt Oleff.
As fans of the book, we think the casting is fairly spot on for the Losers’ Club and are excited to see what director Andy Muschietti does with the second part of his adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic. Here’s everything we know about the Losers’ Club in It: Chapter Two so far.
Don’t worry: The kids of chapter one will be back
Speaking to Variety, Muschietti indicated that because the second chapter of the story “is about these characters 30 years later as adults,” there will be “flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids.” Recently McAvoy shared a number of polaroids of himself with the rest of the main cast on social media, including a couple with the kids from the first film, indicating they’re definitely shooting scenes. Muschietti elaborated on this idea to Entertainment Weekly and suggested there’ll be a “dialogue” between the past and the present in Chapter 2. “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.”
Those flashbacks could be brutal for the Losers’ Club
Speaking to Collider, Muschietti suggested some scenes that he didn’t have the budget to film for the first movie could come to fruition for the second. While most of these are centered around delving into the history of Derry, the nature of Pennywise, and his insidious and seemingly immortal existence (with Xavier Dolan cast to play the tragic Adrian Mellon in one of the most horrifying scenes from the book), there could also be some interesting flashbacks for the Losers’ Club. One of those described sounds gloriously ghoulish, with Muschietti describing a dream sequence in which Bill is leaning on a bridge in Derry “and he’s spitting on the Kenduskeag Stream, and suddenly he sees the reflection of a balloon. And he looks up and it’s not one balloon, but a bunch of balloons, and then he starts to see body parts, and the shot goes wider and it’s a multitude of dead kids floating.” The scene was originally intended for the first instalment, so hopefully it’ll be included in Chapter 2.
The Losers’ Club will be a lot different in the second round
Thirty years is a long time, so obviously the characters will be different in their own ways, including how they deal with their own shit beyond the terror of Derry. Bev is stuck in an abusive relationship with a violent husband (who is to be played by Will Beinbrink), Bill has grown up to overcome his stammer and become a successful horror writer, and Richie has become wealthy and famous thanks to his flamboyant personality. Ben is ready to face his childhood trauma and fears while poor Stan definitely isn’t – in King’s book, the character kills himself, so he doesn’t have to chance to face Pennywise for a final time. So far it seems as though Muschietti is looking to keep the characters the same as they were in the book except for one Losers’ Club member who will be undergoing some major changes.
Mike Hanlon’s character will suffer far more than he does in the book
In King’s story, Mike is arguably the strongest and wisest of the Losers’ Club as he’s the one character who remained in Derry long after the rest left. This means the character has had to face the psychological turmoil of investigating the evil lurking within his hometown all on his own. Chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Muschietti suggested his “idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book,” describing him as a “librarian junkie” who brings the Losers’ Club back together but who is ultimately “a wreck.”
“He’s not just the collector of knowledge of what Pennywise has been doing in Derry. 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.” Apparently the decision to remold Mike in this way was inspired by a part of King’s book in which the kids try a Native American ritual involving the inhalation of fumes that grant them visions of Pennywise and the origins of the evil entity.
