Actor Bill Skarsgård previously played Pennywise, the iconic literary character created by Stephen King, in 2017’s IT: Chapter One and 2019’s IT: Chapter Two. Now he’s set to reprise the role for IT: Welcome to Derry, a new series on HBO, and Bill Skarsgård is teasing a “hardcore” Pennywise for the show.
Skarsgård’s involvement in the series was previously confirmed in 2024. However, as shared in an interview with Josh Horowitz of Happy Sad Confused via Fangoria, he’s finally able to discuss his part in the show. While he couldn’t reveal much, he did indicate that Pennywise is going to be just as brutal as ever, or as he put it himself, “hardcore.”
Here’s what Skarsgård, who recently frightened audiences as Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ new take on Nosferatu, had to say regarding his return in IT: Welcome to Derry:
“It’s pretty hardcore, man. It’s not the G-rated Pennywise.”
He was also able to discuss how he nearly retired from playing monsters with Nosferatu but that he had a great time with IT: Welcome to Derry and exploring new sides of his Pennywise character initially created by Stephen King:
“I felt like I was done with it, in a way. It was also because I was shooting [Nosferatu], I was doing Orlok. To me it just felt like this is the nail in the coffin on my monster roles. Pun intended. I did feel like I was kind of over it and wanted to do different things. The Pennywise thing as well, I’ve been quite defined by it.”
“It was fun. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, actually, and there’s parts of it where we got to explore sides of old Pennywise that we haven’t seen. And that’s fun. I remembered how much I enjoy working with Andy and we do have a lot of fun together. I think there’s some cool stuff in there that we haven’t seen that I’m excited for the people to watch and enjoy hopefully.”
Hopefully we’ll have more details soon with the series premiering on HBO later this year. It’s unknown how much of the series will include Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise, but fans are certainly ecstatic for his return. Especially with the cultural impact that the IT feature films have had throughout most of the last decade.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on IT: Welcome to Derry and the involvement of actor Bill Skarsgård as we have them. Hopefully Welcome to Derry will live up to the expectations set by the previous two movies starring by Skarsgård. Though with the advantages of the longform storytelling offered by television, it could certainly offer a very unique and compelling new perspective on the world of IT.