If You're Terrified Of 'It', Get Ready For Some Terrible News

If you plan to peek through your fingers and catch the new It movie in theaters Friday, you might notice that the film ends with another half a story to go. The giant "It: Part One" title card at the end might've been a hint, but now it's official — it's not a question of if, but when the It sequel comes out. The Hollywood Reporter announced in September that screenwriter Gary Dauberman had signed a deal to write the sequel, so you can expect a follow-up to the terrifying film coming before you know it.

So far, no other official announcements about the upcoming film have been made, but the entire producing team is on-board, and director Andy Muschetti is expected to return as well. Given the current film's generally positive reviews and projected opening weekend box office domination, the announcement of a sequel isn't surprising. What is surprising, though, in an age of mega-franchises and intricately interconnected movie "universes," is that a sequel wasn't already in the works. The script is only going forward now, with the movie expected to hit screens in 2019.

Despite not being a given until recently, director Muschetti seemed confident Part 2 would happen, and that he'd be directing it, at least two months ahead of any official announcement. In a ComicCon Collider interview back in July, Muschetti said of the franchise, "I’m not letting anyone [else] touch it."

He also spoke about what he wants the sequel to focus on in a Yahoo Films interview a week earlier. In it, Muschetti explains that the first film focused on the Losers Club and their initial confrontation with shapeshifting clown Pennywise, and for both emotional and budgetary reasons, the more insane elements of Stephen King's source material, including the trans-dimensional zone Pennywise lives in known as the "deadlights," were left out. But these things will likely make an appearance in the sequel, so fans can breathe sighs of relief.

Though King's original story had two intertwining timelines of the Losers Club as adults and children, It separated them. Does that mean we won't see the stellar young cast of the first film in Part 2? Unlikely; in a Collider interview, Muschetti insisted that Part 2 isn't a sequel, but a second half, and that the two timelines will interact, as that was an element he loved about the original book. If you're still worried you won't get to see Finn Wolfhard cut it up as Richie Tozier again, Muschetti told Yahoo Films straight up that we're definitely headed back to 1989 in a sequel.

With no script to speak of at the moment, adult actors haven't yet been approached to play the characters. That didn't stop the current Losers Club from imagining who might play them in an interview with ScreenRant, though: Bill Hader as resident goofball Richie Tozier, Jessica Chastain as lone lady Beverly Marsh, and Chosen Jacobs suggested Chadwick Boseman play the adult Mike Hanlon. Going for gold, the kids also suggested Jake Gyllenhaal for Eddie Kaspbrak, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Stan Uris, and a firm vote of confidence from Jeremy Ray Tyler of Chris Pratt to play adult Ben Hanscom.

That'd be an Oscar-worthy cast for any film, but considering how well It's gone over (and whether any of those A-listers are Stephen King fans), they might just nab a few.