Derry is once more welcoming us back, and together with Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the charming American small town has made a return. With HBO and the team now focusing on telling the true origin of Pennywise, the ghastly entity from outer space that crash-landed on our planet.
But the two creators initially ran into some early production problems when Bill Skarsgård, the actor who brought Pennywise to life in the two previous films, initially proved hesitant when asked to reprise his role. The reason? He simply didn't feel like there was much new or unexplored about Pennywise to sink his teeth into. Also, the fact that Bill has been playing plenty of "darker" characters as of late was another factor.
In an interview, Andy Muschietti states:
"He was a little hesitant at the beginning to play It again because he is something that he did in the past. Also, at that point, when we started talking about the series as something that was real and tangible, he had played a lot of very dark characters, and he was a little hesitant to go into it again.
"Because, obviously, for someone that takes his work and his art so seriously as him, it takes a toll to live in the head of those characters for a long time. So he was a little hesitant at the beginning - and then something changed. I guess that we started again, going into it and discussing all the virtues of this new story and he decided to do it"
Barbara Muschietti describes how they both wanted to delve deeper into the character and his connection to Derry in the new series. Which was a pitch that Bill apparently felt was good enough, skipping all the things that's been covered in the IT films.
Did you enjoy the first episode?