Bill Skarsgård to return as Pennywise on ‘It’ prequel series ‘Welcome to Derry’

Bill Skarsgård isn’t done clowning around.

The Swedish actor will reprise his role as Pennywise, the demonic harlequin from the horror films It and It Chapter Two, on the Max prequel series Welcome to Derry, Entertainment Weekly has learned. He’ll also serve as an executive producer on the show.

Welcome to Derry (a working title) was announced in February 2023, and like the It movies will be based on Stephen King‘s 1986 novel about a group of children who are terrorized by a sinister entity that most often takes the form of a freaky clown.

Director Andy Muschietti, who helmed both films, developed the project for TV, along with Barbara Muschietti, who worked on both movies, and Jason Fuchs, who produced and acted in the second installment.

King previously said in a statement, “I’m excited that the story of Derry, Maine’s most haunted city, is continuing, and I’m glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara. Red balloons all around!”

The Muschietti siblings added, “As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King’s It until the thick paperback fell to pieces. It is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our It movies. We can’t wait to share the depths of Steve’s novel, in all its heart, humor, humanity and horror.”

Emphasis on the word horror.

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It was first adapted as a TV miniseries in 1990. In that one, which won an Emmy for its music composition and was nominated in the editing category, Pennywise was played by The Rocky Horror Picture Show star Tim Curry.

Last year, before Skarsgård was involved with Welcome to Derry, he told Jake’s Take that the next actor to play the deranged clown would do well to start with reading King’s book.

“If someone else gets to do it, my advice would be: Do it your own,” he said. “Make it your own. Have fun with it. What I found pleasurable about that character is how abstract he was.”

He added, “There’s so so many tantrums and abstractions that you can kind of sit and decipher and that’s what I did with the character. The book is really a gift in that way. So if someone would take it on, just go through the book and find all the clues. They’re so out there that you can kind of make your own conclusions to them.”

Since he last played Pennywise, Skarsgård has appeared in the blockbuster John Wick: Chapter 4. His upcoming credits include Nosferatu, with Nicholas Hoult and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and The Crow, which he headlines with FKA twigs.

Deadline Hollywood first reported Skarsgård’s Welcome to Derry involvement.