Last month, it was announced that HBO Max has officially given a greenlight to the Welcome to Derry series, which will serve as a prequel to Warner Bros’ two-part adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel It (pick up a copy HERE). This series was first announced in March of last year, then in June it was confirmed that the writers room had opened its doors. In November, Brad Caleb Kane (Tokyo Vice) and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman), who was a co-producer on It: Chapter Two, were hired to serve as the showrunners. Now that it’s moving toward production, fans have been wondering: is Bill Skarsgard on board to reprise the role of Pennywise? And the answer is… no. Not yet, anyway. Skarsgard is not currently involved with Welcome to Derry.
Skarsgard was asked about Welcome to Derry during a Jake’s Takes interview, if there’s any chance he would play Pennywise again – and if not, what advice he would give to the next Pennywise. Skarsgard said, “We’ll see what they come up with and what they do with it. As of now, I’m not currently involved in it. If someone else gets to do it, my advice is to make it your own. Have fun with it. What I thought was so pleasurable about that character was how incredibly abstract he was. If you start reading Stephen King’s cocaine-binged book, you just go like, ‘What the hell?’ There’s so many weird tantrums and abstractions that you can kind of sit and decipher. That’s what I did with the character and I really enjoyed that aspect, it informed the character. The book is really a gift that way. So if someone would take it on, it’s just, go through the book and find the clues, and they’re so out there you can kind of make your own conclusions to them.“
Welcome to Derry is being executive produced by Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, the sibling director/producer duo that was behind the two It movies, through their production company Double Dream. Kane and Fuchs are also executive producing. The series is produced by HBO Max and Warner Bros. Television.
Fuchs has written the script for the first episode, working from a story he crafted with the Muschiettis. Andy Muschietti will direct multiple episodes of the series, including that first episode.
Are you disappointed to hear that Bill Skarsgard hasn’t signed on for Welcome to Derry? Let us know by leaving a comment below.