‘It’ Director Andres Muschietti Confirms He’ll Be Back for the Sequel

With the It movie coming to theaters sooner than we’re all probably prepared for, there’s already talk of the sequel. The films are spaced 30 years apart, much like the distinct sections of the book — the first set when all the main characters are children, and the second when they’ve all grown up, but haven’t grown out of their childhood traumas. The director of Part I, Andres Muschietti, recently revealed that he will definitely be back for Part II.

Speaking with Variety, Muschietti confirmed that he’s be returning to the world of It for the second movie, which is scheduled to begin filming sometime next year.

We’ll probably have a script for the second part in January. Ideally, we would start prep in March. Part one is only about the kids. Part two is about these characters 30 years later as adults, with flashbacks to 1989 when they were kids.

If the movie is a hit, that’s great news. It was adapted into a TV miniseries in 1990 that fans of the Stephen King book were pretty disappointed by, despite the fact that it starred Tim Curry as the villainous clown Pennywise. But Muschietti hopes his version will be truer to what the book lovers are hoping for.

Most of the people are excited about seeing a good adaptation. There are naysayers. Those tend to be the people who are fans of the miniseries rather than the fans of the book. People who read the book and got the book, they’re not crazy about the miniseries. It was a very watered-down version. It didn’t contain the darkness that the book had. They couldn’t make something for TV about a clown who eats children.

Side-note: in the interview, Muschietti also mentioned that part of the bonding period for the child actors in the movie (who are all buddies now) was done in “bicycle camp,” because “kids today don’t necessarily know how to ride bikes.” What?? Is this true?? Can a confirmed youngster drop me a line and let me know? Thanks.

It floats into theaters September 8.