Will there be an IT Chapter 3 or a prequel movie? IT Chapter 2 completes the saga adapted from Stephen King's bestselling novel. 27 years after they defeated the evil clown called Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård), the Losers Club, which includes James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, and Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, return to their hometown of Derry, Maine. Pennywise has reawakened and awaits them with new horrors.
IT Chapter 2 deepens the relationships between the members of the Losers Club, who have forgotten the trauma they suffered in that fateful summer of 1989. But when they're called back to Derry in 2016 by Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa), the memories come flooding back. IT Chapter 2 also stars the child actors who played the Losers Club in 2017's IT, including Sophia Lillis as young Beverly, Jaeden Martell as young Bill, and Jack Dylan Grazer as young Eddie Kaspbrak, who appear in flashbacks. It all culminates in a final confrontation with Pennywise where the Losers Club tries to destroy the evil clown once and for all.
IT (2017) was a massive hit for Warner Bros. and New Line that grossed $700 million worldwide and IT Chapter 2’s three-hour runtime doesn’t look like it’ll stop the sequel being an even bigger hit. It all begs the question of whether IT Chapter 2 is really the end of the wildly successful IT saga or whether the story can somehow continue in IT 3 or a prequel. Here's what we know.
IT Chapter 2 Is Definitely The End Of Pennywise
IT Chapter 2 concludes the events adapted from Stephen King's novel and that includes resolving the menace Pennywise posed to Derry, although not without great cost to Bill, Bev, Richie and the rest of the Losers. IT Chapter 2 also wraps up the stories of the Losers Club and puts their old traumas to bed. Further, Pennywise's origin is revealed and the Losers Club also bring their battle against the evil clown to a definitive end. So, in terms of the Losers Club and their stories, there's nowhere further to go without rehashing IT and IT Chapter 2.
However, that doesn't mean there aren't options for more IT movies without this batch of human characters. After all, IT belongs to the horror genre and there's plenty of precedent for horror movie monsters to keep returning for more.
A Third IT Movie Could Happen
Given how successful the IT movies are, it stands to reason Warners and New Line would be interested in continuing this cash cow. Although he has shot down the idea of an IT Chapter 3 that continues the story of the Losers Club, director Andy Muschietti has already discussed the possibility of more IT movies:
"This is the conclusion of the book, so there is no part three. This is the end of the journey of the Losers against Pennywise. But, as we all know the mythology is very rich, and in Stephen King’s book Pennywise has been around for a million years, he’s been in contact with humans for at least five hundred years, and he comes back every twenty-seven years. So, if you go back and back and back and back, you’ll see a lot of drama."
IT 3 Could Be A Pennywise Origin Prequel
Pennywise has proven to be an iconic movie monster that audiences have taken a shine to so an IT prequel would make sense. IT Chapter 2 follows Stephen King's origin for Pennywise that the evil clown is actually not from this world but arrived on Earth (in what would become Derry, Maine) millions of years ago. There is plenty of backstory to explore, from IT attacking every 27 years for centuries to how IT came to adopt the guise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. This would also allow the franchise to incorporate new characters to face Pennywise in other time periods. Given how popular and profitable IT Chapter 2 looks to become, it's a safe bet that horror fans haven't seen the last of Pennywise.
