James McAvoy and Bill Hader are currently in negotiations to join the cast of It: Chapter Two.
They will join Jessica Chastain as three of the now-grown group of kids who challenged the force of evil that disguised itself as the clown Pennywise in the first part of the two-film adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic horror novel.
McAvoy is up for the role of Bill Denbrough, the unofficial leader of the self-proclaimed “Losers Club” who were successful in defeating Pennywise, at least temporarily. Now a best-selling author, when he returns to his home town of Derry and the site of the showdown with Pennywise, he finds his stutter and self-doubts returning.
Hader is set to play the grown up wisecracking Richie Tozier, now a DJ. When asked who should play his character’s adult version, Finn Wolfhard, who played Richie in the first film, had suggested Hader.
The already cast Chastain is playing the grown up Beverly Marsh, who has found that though she was able to escape an abusive father in the first film she is now in an abusive marriage.
Although set in the modern day, the young actors are also expected to return for the second film for flashbacks to their adventure in the 1980s.
Production on It: Chapter Two is set to begin this July with a release date scheduled for September 6, 2019.
